Financial Services
Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards
In the wake of the Libor-fixing scandal, Parliament created a Commission of inquiry into banking standards and Andrew was asked to Chair this Commission.
In its first report, the Commission welcomed the Government’s action to bring forward legislation to implement a ring-fence between retail and investment bank operations. However, the Commission was concerned that these rules could be vulnerable to erosion over time. The report called for an ‘electrification’ of the ring-fence in order to ensure that the banks stick to the new rules.
The Commission will publish its final report on the professional standards and culture of the UK banking sector in 2013.
You can find out more about the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards here.
Treasury Select Committee
In June 2010 Andrew Tyrie was elected Chairman of the Treasury Select Committee. He was the first ever Chairman to be directly elected, by secret ballot of all MPs.
The Committee has summoned a number of high-profile figures, ranging from the Chancellor, the Bank of England Governor, the EU Commissioner, and Bob Diamond the former CEO of Barclays Bank.
Under his Chairmanship, the Committee has reported on a number of subjects, including access to cash machines; pay in the financial services sector; quantitative easing; and banking reform.
The Committee has also rejected plans to phase out the use of cheques, saying it would hit “the small traders whom we need most to secure the recovery.”
Financial Crisis
As a member of the Treasury Select Committee, Andrew played a major role in the examination of bank bosses over the banking crisis in 2009.
You can find transcripts of Andrew’s cross-examination of the bank bosses here:
- Click here to download Treasury Select committee (pages 240 - 243)
- Click here to download Treasury Select committee (pages 267 - 268)
- Click here to download Treasury Select committee (285 - 286)
- Click here to download Treasury Select committee (344 - 345)
For this work, Andrew was awarded The Spectator Magazine’s “Backbencher of the Year” 2009:
“He’s got, perhaps, one of the best minds in the Party but uses it to speak out on issues such as climate change to extraordinary rendition in Diego Garcia. But it was his work on the Treasury Select Committee this year, cracking open the case of the HBOS whistleblower which really drew him to the judges’ attention. Sometimes he is the conscience of his party (sometimes he is a thorn in its side) but when he stands up always he is a man worth listening to.”– Fraser Nelson, Editor of ‘The Spectator’, 12th November 2009.