Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 2:00 pm on 20 October 2021.
Thank you, Russell George. It is always good and important to drive things forward when we get that cross-party support for a proposal. It has been clearly supported by the Welsh Government, taking on the pioneering work of Ken Skates, and I also would say Jack Sargeant as well, who raised many questions on this point. But, I have to say that it is across this Welsh Parliament that Banc Cambria is seen to be a goal that we should be aiming for. Because the serious point is that we've got bank closures in all our consistencies on the high street. It's a continuing decline, and we have to ensure people have access to banking services. I've mentioned the credit union movement, and we're putting more and more funding and support into the credit unions.
Just a quick update: you know that we have direct discussions, as I think I've reported, between the regulator and the private sector financial institution, because the banking sector is tightly regulated, it is a reserved matter, and the establishment of the community bank is contingent on private sector delivery. But we're completely committed to the support and the creation of the community bank for Wales. I think it's important that we can acknowledge and keep raising the questions, recognising that we're working with the private sector. They're developing their commercial proposals in line with the regulatory approval process, and we are delivering operational plans in parallel with these regulatory assessments.