7. What is the Welsh Government doing to ensure communities across Wales have accessible banking services? OQ58850

Llywydd, as I explained on the floor of the Senedd last week, responsibility for financial services, including banking, is not devolved to the Senedd. While the Welsh Government cannot, therefore, ensure banking availability, we are working with those who are able to do so. This includes provision of innovative services, such as shared banking hubs and our own plans for a community bank.

Diolch, Prif Weinidog. The First Minister will be aware of the most recent spate of bank closure to hit Wales after HSBC announced last week that they'd be closing 12 branches from next April. One of the branches earmarked for closure is in Port Talbot. The announcement is another blow to constituents in my region, who, from west to east, are already being cut adrift by the closures. Gower, for example, now only has three of the big four UK banks, split between Gorseinon and Mumbles, whilst, to the east, in Ogmore, just one bank remains. 

We have known about this problem for a long time. We know that the communities impacted hardest are in areas of high deprivation. The big banks enjoy massive profits, but simply don't care about their social responsibilities. As they continue to abandon our communities, will the Government accelerate the establishment of the Banc Cambria network?

Well, Llywydd, can I first of all agree with what Luke Fletcher said about the very disappointing announcement last week? I've long argued myself that we need something akin to the United States Community Reinvestment Act 1977, which would oblige banks, when they remove from communities that have supported them for decades and decades, that would oblige them to invest in those communities to make good the lack of services that their withdrawal inevitably leads to. 

My colleague Vaughan Gething wrote to the Monmouthshire Building Society—which, as you know, is now a lead partner in our plans for a community bank—on 16 November, and there is to be a meeting early in the new year, involving the Minister for Economy and the Minister for Social Justice, with Monmouthshire Building Society and the voluntary group that originally proposed a community bank for Wales, to set out a route-map to the launch of that community bank. And we'd like it to happen as quickly as possible. The reasons for it not being as quick as we would like are just the technical ones, the challenging ones of licensing in the financial services area, and that is part, as the Member knows, of why we are working in partnership with the Monmouthshire Building Society, because it already has a number of those permissions in what is a tightly regulated sector. 

As well as the community bank, Llywydd, of course, we work with credit unions to see where they can step in to provide services. We support post offices in the work they do, and we work with Link. So, it's a non-devolved service, but it is responsible for 243 locations for automatic cash-dispensing machines across Wales. And where banks pull out, there will be an obligation that Link will discharge, at least to make sure that people continue to have access to cash in those localities. 

And finally, question 8, Samuel Kurtz.