9. What benefits will the establishment of a community bank for Wales bring to mid and west Wales? OQ58353

Thank you. The vision for the community bank, now being taken forward by our partners the Monmouthshire Building Society, is that it will be a full-service bank headquartered in Wales and will provide bilingual products and banking services through a range of channels, including phone, digital and physical outlets. 

Thank you very much for that answer. Last month, Barclays bank announced that it was closing branches across the region, including Welshpool, Newtown and Lampeter. This has become a very common pattern over recent years. Indeed, there are about 40 per cent fewer branches that now exist in the region I represent than there were nine years ago. The impact of this is very great on our rural communities, including the elderly people, small businesses and organisations and farmers in the area. The situation is now so critical that several market towns in the region, among them Llanidloes, Tregaron and Llandovery, have now gained the status of 'no-bank towns'. And online banking, of course, is difficult because there is a lack of reliable broadband. You've noted your intention to establish a community bank for Wales; could I ask you: are the rural communities of Wales going to have fair play in these new plans?

The vision for the community bank is one that's got support on all sides of the Chamber, and that in itself is relatively unusual. The challenge, though, I think, is in having not just the vision, but then being able to do something where we're able to provide real-life banking services that people will want and will use, and also that we're able to have a programme of opening the physical branches that matches the actual capability. I think there's a danger that every Member will say, 'I would like to have a community bank branch in my constituency or my region'. I've certainly had representations on my own side from a range of people, from Jack Sargeant, Joyce Watson and a range of others. We want to see the bank be successful, and we want to see those services increase. The reason why we're at this point is exactly the point the Member's articulated: traditional banks have been moving away from a range of communities, both in towns and cities as well as in rural parts of Wales. This is our attempt to make sure we have a viable banking product that will try to fill in some of that gap. I am looking forward to providing a further update, together with the Monmouthshire Building Society, on how that work is practically progressing. But I do take on board the points the Member makes.

And the last question to the Minister today, question 10, Delyth Jewell.