3. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to improve rural banking provision in Denbighshire? OQ59049

Decisions on scaling high-street banking back in Wales are ones that rest with the major retail banks. I applaud the efforts being made by a number of people, including those in Denbigh, to retain a bank branch. The Welsh Government will continue working with the Monmouthshire Building Society to realise our ambition for community banking in Wales.

I appreciate your response, Minister, and the reason I’m asking this question today is for that very reason, because HSBC in Denbigh is set to close in the summer as part of 114 branch closures across the UK. But what I don’t believe is that the due diligence has been considered for people in rural areas, and in particular the people of Denbigh, where some can’t travel as far as Rhyl or Ruthin to carry out their financial affairs if they are elderly, disabled, can’t drive or don’t have access to public transport. When I asked about this in the business statement last week, the Trefnydd told me that the matter wasn’t devolved to Wales and therefore didn’t require a statement. But you yourself, Minister, in 2021 released a statement on the Welsh Government’s plan to support towns that have lost their banks. So, which is it, Minister, and what are you going to do to support people in rural Denbighshire?

Financial services are not a devolved matter. However we have an ambition to help improve access to local services, which is why we’re engaged with the Monmouthshire Building Society on a programme to try to regenerate community banking in a range of communities in Wales.

I recognise that, within the over 100 closures across the UK, 12 of those HSBC closures will be in Wales. It’s part of the trend we’ve seen a part of the changing way consumers choose to bank, and what that means is there’s a divide in the way that different people access banking. So, it’s partly a rural issue, and it’s also issue in urban communities as well about having access to cash. Now, my understanding is that, whilst in Denbigh’s case, HSBC had created an impact analysis report, we’ve yet to see the stakeholder engagement report published and made available online to understand the direct cost. Now, we will carry on working with other partners in areas that we are not directly responsible for, but we're doing this because we recognise there should be real benefit for access to affordable financial services in communities that may not otherwise see them. So, we'll carry on working with our partners in Monmouthshire Building Society, we'll carry on in our conversations with the UK Government, and we look forward to seeing whether banking hubs really will provide the scale and the pace of roll-out to try to match the pace and the scale of branch closures. I'm not optimistic that we'll see a match between those two, but we'll carry on being engaged as constructively as we can and should be.

I'm grateful, Deputy Presiding Officer, to have the opportunity once again to raise the issue of banking provision in the Senedd. I think it's one that's well rehearsed on the floor of this Chamber. It's one that affects every corner of Wales. The Minister will be fully aware of my long-standing campaign to bring Wales's first community bank branch to Buckley in my own constituency. What is clear, Minister, is that there is clear cross-party consensus and support for the establishment of the Welsh Government's bold proposal of a community bank, but it's important that we now deliver that bold proposal. Can I ask the Minister whether he will do everything he can in his department to ensure Banc Cambria will be progressed as quickly as possible?

We're certainly looking to progress as quickly as possible, and that's the challenge, because the environment around this has changed. The environment in terms of the mortgage market is in a different place now, I'm afraid. We're likely to see a change in house prices over the next year, with a recession largely predicted. So, I'm meeting with my officials and Monmouthshire Building Society on the banking project. The Minister for Social Justice is also now engaged, because I have the task of trying to get the bank established and then it would switch to the Minister for Social Justice's portfolio for its ongoing engagement with Ministers here. The Member regularly raises Buckley, and I think he's also generously agreed that we could call the community bank the Buckley bank if we wanted to. Whilst I don't think we'll do that, we'll carry on keeping Members as informed as possible, and I'm hoping we'll have an update in the coming months on the pace of the work that's being done. I'm also very keen that Monmouthshire Building Society and Banc Cambria themselves engage directly with Members, because, you're right, there is cross-party support for this. It's important that it continues to be seen in that way with direct engagement with Members across the political spectrum.