Member

The question for the Minister is how we balance these competing duties: the duty of care owed by financial institutions to their customers and the duty of the state to protect the public purse. In my view, the balance must fall, carefully but firmly, on the side of recovering fraudulently obtained public money. When a reasonable suspicion of fraud exists, the priority must be ensuring that public funds are recovered and that abuse of the system is addressed. I ask the Minister what discussions have taken place between the banks and financial institutions, and the relevant regulators such as the FCA, over these matters.