We are all aware that there are still issues to be resolved following
the international banking crisis. Bank customers have approached me
with problems they have had, both with business and personal accounts,
and on a number of occasions we have been able to successfully resolve
them. I have also met regularly with some of the local managers for
the major high street banks and have been impressed with their
willingness to engage with customers problems and in particular the
business community. However, there are still questions over the
alleged mis-selling of financial products, and I was part of a meeting
in parliament last week to discuss one that has been a problem for
many businesses; namely interest rate swap agreements.
These swap agreements were taken out by many small and medium sized
businesses on the advice of their banks to protect themselves against
future increases in rates on their borrowings; which were wrongly
expected at the time. Businesses were warned that they could face
bankruptcy if they did not take up these agreements. They were also
assured that the penalties for breaking out of the agreements would be
low; this turned out not to be true and in some cases the penalty
costs have been worth more than half of the outstanding debt. The net
result has been that individual businesses have paid out hundreds of
thousands of pounds to their banks in charges that they shouldn’t have
had to pay. Following a debate in the House of Commons in the summer
the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is investigating the
mis-selling of these products, and we are expecting their report at
the end of January, which I hope will lead to the suspension of all of
these agreements. I have also pressed the FSA to introduce a
moratorium on further payments under these agreements. I know local
businesses have been affected by this, but please let me know if you
would like some more information about this review.
On Tuesday this week I attended the last meeting of the season at the
Folkestone racecourse, which is sadly also the last fixture in the
horse racing calendar to be held there for the foreseeable future.
After a proud history of delighting competitors and race goers, the
Folkestone course is to be closed until such a time as there can be an
agreement that would allow some development of the site to help to
finance the rebuilding of the facilities. The owners of Folkestone
racecourse have some interesting plans for how this could be achieved
and I hope that a consensus can soon be reached with the local
residents, the council and the planning authorities to allow the
investment needed for the course to re-open. Folkestone has been the
only racecourse in Kent for the last few years, and is also ideally
placed to attract racing stables and enthusiasts from France. I hope
we will soon see the winners enclose open for business once again.
Finally, I would like to wish all the readers of this column best
wishes for the Christmas and the New Year