Treasury Committee releases further details of inquiry into lessons from Greensill Capital

Monday, 19 April 2021 18:27

Last week the Treasury Committee announced that it had agreed in principle to launch an inquiry into the lessons from Greensill Capital. Today, the Committee has officially launched the inquiry, which is called ‘Lessons from Greensill Capital’. As announced last week, it will focus on the regulatory lessons from the failure of Greensill Capital and the appropriateness of HM Treasury’s response to lobbying in relation to Greensill Capital. The terms of reference are...Request free trial

Last week the Treasury Committee announced that it had agreed in principle to launch an inquiry into the lessons from Greensill Capital.

Today, the Committee has officially launched the inquiry, which is called ‘Lessons from Greensill Capital’.

As announced last week, it will focus on the regulatory lessons from the failure of Greensill Capital and the appropriateness of HM Treasury’s response to lobbying in relation to Greensill Capital. The terms of reference are in the notes to editors.

Rt Hon. Mel Stride MP, Chair of the Treasury Committee, will write to Rt Hon. David Cameron, HM Treasury, the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and UK Government Investments (UKGI) to ask them a series of questions to inform the Committee’s inquiry. The Committee will publish these letters tomorrow.

The Committee will seek to take oral evidence from Mr Cameron, Rt Hon. Rishi Sunak MP, Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Bank of England, the FCA, Lex Greensill, and others in due course. The Committee plans to hold a scene-setting oral evidence session with relevant experts on Wednesday 28 April, details of which will be announced later this week.

Commenting on the inquiry, Rt Hon. Mel Stride MP, Chair of the Treasury Committee, said:

“There are questions to be answered in relation to Greensill Capital regarding the operation of the UK’s financial system and its regulation. Also, whether the Treasury responded appropriately to lobbying from Greensill during the pandemic.

“I will be writing shortly to the Chancellor, the Governor of the Bank of England, Chief Executive of the FCA, and David Cameron requesting answers to various initial questions.

“The Committee will be holding its first evidence session into Greensill Capital next week.”

--Ends--

Notes to Editors

The terms of reference for this inquiry are below:

The Treasury Committee is undertaking a short inquiry following the failure of Greensill Capital. The inquiry will be divided into the following two strands:

1. Lessons for the financial system and its regulation from the failure of Greensill Capital

2. Lessons for HM Treasury (and its associated public bodies) from its interactions with Greensill Capital during the Covid crisis

The Committee will publish Mr Stride’s letters to Rt Hon. David Cameron, HM Treasury, Bank of England, FCA, and UKGI tomorrow.

On 14 April, the Committee announced its intention to launch this inquiry. Commenting at the time, Mr Stride said:

“The Treasury Committee had previously decided to carefully consider these issues as part of its regular and upcoming evidence sessions with HM Treasury and its associated bodies, including the Financial Conduct Authority and Bank of England.

“In addition to this we have now decided to take a closer look by launching an inquiry to investigate the issues that fall within our remit. We will publish further details when we launch the inquiry officially next week.”