Currency … if we let them, will it be the Banks that decide?

The purpose of this blog and the Facebook page is to establish the widest possible discussion on and understanding of the subject of "currency" in a series of stages. (I will try to keep it as non-technical as I can. Some like this one need a degree of length, others will be much shorter.)

One of the stages leads to these two important questions. How powerful are the Banks? Are they powerful enough to circumvent the law, or influential enough to shape it to suit their purposes?

Today, do Banks have the power and influence to decide what Scotland's currency is, simply look at the notes or coins in your pocket or purse – who creates them? Who holds that power?

That is today, what of tomorrow, what of the future - might the very same Banks have the power to influence what an Independent Scotland's currency is? Will you have a say, will any of us?

What follows below might help you think through the question of such power and influence, not least to find that there are alternatives, ones which you, not the Banks, can create?

In the last post, I said that I had submitted a Report to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as part of their inquiry into Retail Banking. In the Report itself, I included a link to a video, you have just watched an extract from that video. (Sorry it's not better quality.)

The full video was filmed in June 2016, after a meeting in Glasgow, where I asked for a small number of volunteers to take part – they had no prior knowledge of what was to be discussed.

During the half hour involved, I took them through a series of extracts from some very detailed documents, an EU Directive, an Act of Parliament, documents from HM Treasury, and individual documents from a range of UK Banks.

Not easy going, and not something many of us spend time on. Put as simply as I can manage, this is what was involved in the papers I showed to those at the meeting:

1. The EU issued a Directive which stated that everyone, irrespective of their financial position, should have access to a Basic Bank Account, which would allow for direct debits, a Bank card, but not allow for any credit facilities, such as an overdraft … and it was to be an account to which no fees could be charged.
2. The UK Government, with only minor amendments, passed an Act of Parliament, which transferred the EU Directive into UK law.
3. Meetings between HM Treasury and the Banks, and the Bankers Association, took place, and the actual implementation of what was in both the EU Directive and the Act of Parliament began to alter ... it changed as it was to be applied in practice by the Banks.
4. Matters such as whether the Banks alone could decide if someone was “eligible” for a Basic Bank Account began to appear, no longer was it … irrespective of their financial position.
5. Circumstances in which a charge might still be relevant also began to surface, no longer was it … an account to which no fees could be charged.

The clip you have just watched includes comments from those who took part … their conclusions are their own, the words and expressions they use are theirs, “contradiction”, “enslaved”, “trapped in a system”, those are their words, and their conclusions, based on the evidence presented to them.

They are the views of ordinary individuals, when they are introduced to the very real powers and influence that Banks have and can exert, even when it is questionably at odds with, and may directly contradict, not only an EU Directive but also an Act of Parliament.

We immediately perhaps think of Governments, and their role when we talk about currency, but it would be a very serious mistake for anyone who wishes to discuss “currency” - if they ignore the power and the influence that Banks can exert, as the above example shows.

Question: If we in Scotland discussed who we think should have the power and influence to shape and issue Scotland's currency, would we decide the only way would be to let the Banks act – exactly as they do today? That is one option.

Question: Or, might we look at all the issues surrounding currency, discuss it as widely as possible, and then might we eventually conclude that what currency we use should be a first order priority decision by the people of Scotland, for the people of Scotland? That is the alternative.

Your answers to such questions has never been more important. 

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The next post on this blog, and the next clip on Facebook, will address one of the main reasons why that power and influence of the Banks exists. Why “enslaved” is not inaccurate. It will address:

How the Banks gain ownership of your money

and why you have no choice in the matter

- because the law says so!