Minutes of the Wholesale Distribution Steering Group – 2 June 2021

The Wholesale Distribution Steering Group have the objective of overseeing the design of a new end-state model for wholesale cash distribution. This is to support the UK in an environment of declining cash volumes.
Published on 16 June 2021

Date of meeting: 2 June 2021 | Location: This meeting took place via video/audio link

Minutes

Item 1 – Standing agenda items

  • 18 May 2021 minutes:

The group agreed the 18 May 2021 minutes, and approved their publication

  • Sharing information on stakeholder management

None.

Item 2 – Progress Update

Project status

Eversheds reported that a number of bilateral meetings had taken place with members, and that the project was on track against the re-baselined nine week phase of work aimed at developing a business case for members to consider. The project status was held at amber to reflect some outstanding issues to be resolved, which include agreeing the clean teams requirements, costs and timelines.

Clean team development

Eversheds confirmed that it had been agreed in principle that a clean team should be established to facilitate appropriate and safe sharing of sensitive information. A paper is currently being drafted which sets out the requirements for the clean team for final approval; this includes resourcing the requirements and details of the type of information that will be shared.

Eversheds noted that following a review by Industry Escalation Meeting members Paul Pugh (Partner, Eversheds) will take on the role of facilitator to the clean team. Paul had supported the preliminary stages of the wholesale work assessing potential distribution models, and so was familiar with the project.

Asset selection criteria

KPMG provided an update on the draft asset selection criteria with the associated weightings/ scoring matrix. The criteria were still being discussed by IEM, and would be brought back to WDSG for sign off by written procedure ahead of the next WDSG meeting.

Internal governance/ decision making

Eversheds outlined the overall project plan and decision timetable; members will be presented with a final business case by end-July and will be asked to decide individually whether to proceed to the next stage of development by the 29 Oct. Eversheds has also been considering if any work can continue in parallel to the internal decision making to ensure the project keeps momentum.

Item 3 – Review Action Log

Actions were reviewed and closed where applicable

Item 4 – AOB

None.

Committee attendees

Bank of England: Sarah John (Chair), Nick Butt, Elisabeth Bertalanffy-Fournier, Ronan McClintock, James Best, Molly Galligan

Eversheds: Ros Kellaway, Vicki Pickard, Russell Saunders, Mark McLintock

KPMG: Simon Walker

Barclays: Tim Allen

HSBC: Sue Yarham

Lloyds Banking Group: Robin Hay

Post Office: Russell Hancock

Natwest: Colin Brindley

Santander UK: Timothy Allnatt

HM Treasury: Derek Dunne

Virgin Money: Derek Walker

Danske: Kevin McMullan

G4S: Paul Van Der Knapp

Vaultex: Mark Trevor

Royal Mint: Mark Loveridge

Apologies

Trystan Richards (Eversheds), Richard Talbot (Natwest), Martin Barrett (Lloyds), Robert White (Santander), Julie Fitzgibbon (BOI), John Garrett (AIB), Azin Roussos (HM Treasury), Anne Jessopp (Royal Mint), Phil Vaughan (Vaultex)