A Community Bank in Wales

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:34 pm on 3 December 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:34, 3 December 2019

(Translated)

Well, to be honest, Llywydd, it’s far more complicated than to just say that it’s regulatory issues that lie behind what’s happened on the high street. What the banks say is that the business model that they’ve used over the years just doesn’t work as it used to many years ago. The numbers of people using their branches have fallen, very many more people do their banking online, and so there is something about the business model, too. And that’s why it’s been so important to work with the Community Savings Bank Association, because they’ve created a new model where they are confident that it’s possible to run something on the high street in a different way and which can work locally. That is why we’ve made progress on that. I do agree with what Rhun ap Iorwerth was saying about the problem, and the problem exists throughout the whole of Wales, as we know. But just saying that the old ways of doing things are the best ways is too simplistic and will not work. And that’s why we have the new model, and we’re working hard to get that model up and running here in Wales.