NatWest Group Plc boss Alison Rose has irritated UK lawmakers by refusing to give testimony at a hearing next week on why big retail banks have been slow to pass on higher interest rates to savers.
(Bloomberg) — NatWest Group Plc boss Alison Rose has irritated UK lawmakers by refusing to give testimony at a hearing next week on why big retail banks have been slow to pass on higher interest rates to savers.
The chief executive officer of the state-backed bank has told the Treasury select committee that she has other commitments that can’t be broken in the build-up to NatWest’s full-year results on Feb. 17.
MPs want to take bank bosses to task on behalf of constituents, who are complaining that the increase in interest rates from 0.1% to 3.5% over the past year has not been passed on to savings accounts.
“It is vital that the bosses of the UK’s largest banks answer questions from MPs on the record and in public. Our constituents expect nothing less,” said Anthony Browne, a Conservative MP who sits on the committee.
Britain’s banks are expected to post billions of pounds in annual profit later this month, largely thanks to higher rates. Jonathan Pierce, a banks analyst at Numis, has calculated that NatWest has passed on about 35% to 40% of the rate rises — a similar rate to the other major lenders.
Charlie Nunn, chief executive officer of Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Matt Hammerstein, head of Barclays Plc’s UK division, and Ian Stuart, boss of HSBC Holdings Plc’s UK bank, are due to give evidence to the Treasury committee. NatWest, which is 45% owned by the UK government, has offered to send David Lindberg, chief executive of retail banking.
“As the chief executive of our retail bank, serving 16 million customers, David Lindberg is directly responsible for these critical consumer issues and is an appropriate representative for NatWest Group at the hearing next week,” a NatWest spokesperson said.
The committee would rather Rose attended but will accept Lindberg if she continues to decline the invitation. Harriett Baldwin, chair of the committee, expressed her concern at the end of a separate hearing on Tuesday.
“We are putting together a panel next week of the chief executives of the high street banks and we’ve invited Alison Rose to represent NatWest. She’s the only person who we haven’t been able to secure at this point. It would mean we would end up with an all-male panel,” Baldwin said.
(Adds NatWest comment in 7th paragraph.)
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