MUTUALISATION AND THE BANKING SECTOR

That this House regrets the disappearance of so many building societies through the demutualisations that occurred in the 1980s and 1990s; notes that not one of these institutions has survived as an independent British bank; applauds the ethic that underlies the principle of mutuality; and urges the Government, as part of the restructuring of the banking sector, to enable and encourage the remutualisation of a significant part of it, including the conventional banking side of Northern Rock.