Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy and Transport – in the Senedd at 2:12 pm on 20 March 2019.
Thank you for the question. You've raised a really important issue. It is not restricted just to mid Wales—this is as much an issue in Llanelli as it is Montgomeryshire. This is one of the reasons why the Welsh Government is working with the Scottish Government and the Royal Society of Arts on the development of a community bank, because we recognise the importance that banking facilities still have in communities. And whilst the commercial market has withdrawn from that space, there does need to be a Government intervention to make up for that market failure while society is in transition. So, we're currently working on that now, and we hope, through that, we'll be able to return some community banking facilities to high streets, and I'd be happy to have any ideas that the Member has on what further work we should do.