As Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Richard was recently the shadow minister responding to a Westminster Hall debate on banking hubs.
Speaking afterwards, he said:
I am a strong believer that it is important, wherever possible, for access to banking services to be maintained. In a recent parliamentary debate, I made the point that one of the greatest casualties of the loss of high street bank branches is the rise of online banking fraud, particularly among the elderly and vulnerable.
I have pushed for some time for the introduction of banking hubs in Sandy and Biggleswade, however the assessment for whether these are required invariably resorts to whether the towns have sufficient access to cash. Given that the use of cash in this country has declined significantly, this is a somewhat flawed measure and greater weight should be given to the other benefits that banking hubs deliver, such as greater protection against fraud.
You can see the latest assessment for Sandy here: https://www.link.co.uk/our-assessments
You can find out more about Richard's past work on banking hubs by visiting https://www.richardfuller.co.uk/news/richard-meets-link-discuss-banking-hubs and https://www.richardfuller.co.uk/news/richard-meets-treasury-minister-discuss-more-flexibility-assessments-banking-hubs-criteria
