The Business Banking Resolution Service (‘BBRS’) has suffered a crisis of leadership and confidence, with the resignation of the Chair of the SME Liaison Panel established to represent the interests of small businesses who allege mistreatment by banks, followed by the allegedly ultra vires announcement by the BBRS that it intends to abolish the Panel he led. Antony Townsend, who Chairs the advisory Panel, yesterday announced his intention to step down, citing the inflexibility of some members of the BBRS’ leadership team to support changes to the scheme that might have allowed more SMEs to have their unresolved banking complaints

The Foreign Affairs Committee just published a damning report: ‘The cost of complacency: illicit finance and the war in Ukraine’. It sets out a sad indictment of the state of affairs of our economic crime response, and proposes a series of measures for the Government to tackle the scourge of dirty money. The Committee finds that, so far, the Government’s rhetoric of “clamping down” has not been matched with constructive action. The report concludes that the Government’s lack of willingness to bring forward legislation stemming the flow of Russian money has directly contributed to the UK’s status as a safe

Throughout months of engagement with Lloyds Banking Group, the Foskett Panel and the SME Alliance to improve the customer experience of the Re-Review Process, we pushed to make it clear that many victims of the HBOS Reading fraud simply cannot continue to wait any longer for compensation, having already waited 15 years. For that reason, we are pleased to announce the option for a single payout for all HBOS Reading victims worth up to £3m per victim, costing Lloyds Banking Group up to £600m. During previous engagement, it was clear that all parties agree that the Foskett Panel is suitably