Gregory Campbell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gregory Campbell on 2016-03-02.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations he has received on financial institutions’ plans to offer negative or zero rates of interest to savers.

Harriett Baldwin

HM Treasury has not received any representations on financial institutions’ plans to offer negative or zero rates of interest to savers.

The levels of interest being paid to savers and their disclosure was explored as part of the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) Cash Savings Market Study report, which was published in January 2015. The report found that competition in the cash savings market was not working well for many consumers and, in response, the FCA has consulted on and will subsequently be introducing new rules from 1 December 2016 designed to both improve competition and the information savers receive. As part of these new rules, firms will need to make it clear to consumers what interest rate they are getting for their account.