LOSING two SNP MPs from a parliamentary group has been described as a “setback” for businesses seeking compensation from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) according to a company set up to support them.
George Kerevan was previously chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Fair Business Banking and his SNP colleague Callum Kerr its vice-chair.
Kerevan was also the only Scottish member on the Treasury Select Committee, but both lost their seats in last week’s election.
Edinburgh-based MBM Veritas, which was established to support damaged businesses and those seeking compensation for RBS’s notorious Global Restructuring Group (GRG) says the loss of the MPs is a blow to firms seeking recompense.
Litigation lawyer Cat MacLean, a co-founder of MBM Veritas, said: “There is no doubt that some valuable work was undertaken by George Kerevan and Calum Kerr in the APPG on behalf of many Scottish businesses damaged by RBS. It is imperative that this momentum is not lost.’’ RBS has said that since last November, it has completed an internal review of more than 4,600 customer files to establish if they were charged complex fees while in the GRG. The bank has written to 3,263 of those customers, including 1,558 who are due refunds totalling £30 million.
Retired High Court judge Sir William Blackburne was appointed by RBS to oversee its review, but MBM Veritas said in the six months since the review was launched, he has yet to review a single file.
Another MBM co-founder, Scott Cowan, said he considered this behaviour a continuation of RBS treating their customers unfairly.
He said: “Despite the bank being compelled to open up a complaints process last November, they are being allowed to run it at their own very slow pace which can only be detrimental to the customers who have been mistreated in the first place. “One of the benefits of the APPG was that they could apply political pressure to both the bank and the [Financial Conduct Authority] FCA and I’m afraid that some of this momentum will have been lost with the key members of the APPG having lost their seats.”
MBM Veritas said it understood that only 653 eligible customers had made a complaint to date and there were potentially hundreds of companies who may still be unaware that there is even a complaints scheme in existence.
Andrew Mackenzie, joint managing director, said: “We have some clients who were in GRG that were not included in the automatic process which gives us deep concerns that not all eligible businesses will have been written to by the bank.”
MacLean added: “With pending discussions over Brexit and the uncertainty about the hung parliament, it will take time for the APPG to get going again.
“While the APPG is a cross party group, it has been strongly supported by a number of MPs who have now lost their seats. “For many businesses, each extra month is a terrible strain.”
An RBS spokesman said: "As confirmed by the FCA’s update, no evidence has been found that the bank artificially engineered the transfer of any customer to GRG. All SME customers transferred to GRG were exhibiting clear signs of financial difficulty and, in a significant majority of cases, it is likely the bank’s actions did not cause any material financial distress to our customers."
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