Big Four banks to face MPs' grilling

TOP bank chiefs face a public mauling from MPs this week over everything from the size of their pay packets to the way they treat their customers. The focus of the all-party Treasury Select Committee attack will be on the grip exercised by the Big Four - Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland - who control 90% of the small-business banking market in England and Wales.

But committee chairman John McFall also says MPs will grill the banks about how they could make it easier for customers to switch their accounts. As well as asking the bankers about their salaries, MPs will seek reassurances about branch closures, he said.

Chief executives Matt Barrett of Barclays, Peter Ellwood of Lloyds TSB, Bill Dalton of the UK arm of HSBC and Fred Goodwin of RBS have all been summoned to the hearing on Tuesday. Central to the MPs' questioning will be the Competition Commission's February report, which accused big banks of operating a 'complex monopoly', ripping off small business to the tune of £750m a year.

The Commission also demanded that the Big Four pay interest on current accounts, make charges more transparent and allow business customers to switch accounts within five days. MPs will ask the bank chiefs to respond to the Commission's report. The Treasury has already endorsed the Commission's findings.

McFall said: 'Our duty is to assess what the banks say. The mood is for change - look at what the Competition Commission has said and the response of the Government.'

Banking union Unifi and the Federation of Small Businesses have already been asked for their views. It is expected that Abbey National and HBoS, the two new entrants to the small business banking market, will also be questioned.