PMS savers urged to come forward
JUNIOR minister Jeffrey Donaldson has appealed to Presbyterian Mutual Society savers who were urged to remove their money from the society by banks to get in touch with him.
The Lagan Valley MP has said that a number of people have contacted him since the News Letter carried a story on the banks' alleged role in the problems leading up to the society's crash.
There was a run on the PMS in October and it is now being wound down.
Mr Donaldson believes proving that banks contributed to its fate will help put crucial pressure on the Prime Minister to step in and help.
"A number of people have now come to me about banks contacting them to try to solicit their business away from the PMS, with the suggestion that their money was not safe there," said Mr Donaldson.
"This is further evidence of the clear link that exists between the Government guarantee for bank deposits and the predatory approaches by banks to draw people away from the PMS.
"We are compiling this information and hope to forward it to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) so I would appeal to as many people as possible to come forward to add their information about what happened to them.
"I would like to make a clear call for more people to come forward because, with the amount of money that was withdrawn in a period of weeks in October, there must have been many others out there who have also been approached.
"I would appeal to them to come forward and help us compile a case to give to the Information Commissioner's Office and to the Financial Services Authority," he said.
The ICO has legal powers to investigate whether an individual's data may have been used for purposes other than for which it was gathered, while the Financial Services Authority regulates the financial services industry.
"Whilst this report we are compiling will not in itself secure PMS savers' money, it does help us in presenting a very strong case to the Prime Minister which will clearly show the link between the Government's guarantee scheme and the substantial collapse of the PMS," said Mr Donaldson.
So far Gordon Brown has argued that the problems of the PMS are a devolved matter and nothing to do with UK Government.
Mr Donaldson assured savers of privacy if they do come forward.
"We will ensure the confidentiality of any individual people," he said. "This is not about focusing on individual cases but rather building up a picture of what actually happened.
"We really need people to come forward to help us prove to the Government that the part played by the banks in the run on the PMS is not just hearsay. It is absolutely crucial."
Several banks were asked about such claims at a Department of Enterprise committee meeting in February. They said they would take a dim view of such practices and urged anyone with information to come forward.
Meanwhile, earlier this week the Financial Services Authority took the unusual step of issuing an official statement to say it did not believe the PMS had been acting unlawfully and that it would not be taking any action against any of its directors.
Contact details for Jeffrey Donaldson MP: email jeffreydonaldsonmp@laganvalley.net, call 028 9266 8001 or write to the Old Town Hall, 29 Castle Street, Lisburn, Co Antrim, BT27 4DH.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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