Ms Derville Rowland:

May I add to Professor Lane's comments? In no way do I want the Senator to take the view that we have been self-congratulatory in our statement today or any other day. I am really sorry this happened and I am sorry money has not been returned sooner to the people affected. However, it is a core driver that responsibility is firmly placed on the listed plcs and the lenders, which are huge in terms of staff, resourcing and responsibilities, and not on the regulator. Front and centre, the responsibility to treat the customer fairly does not, as a first line, rest with the Financial Regulator, which has oversight. I fully accept that the Senator expects to see a competent, strong, intrusive, alert regulator that pre-empts difficulties or, where difficulties arise, addresses them definitively. That is what we expect ourselves to be. However, I say, without any hesitation, that the tracker mortgage scandal was created by those lenders that did not do right by their customers and that full-square responsibility rests with them and the senior people who direct the minds and the conduct of the organisations they run. This is their opportunity. If they were not there in the first place as part of the group of people who took the decisions that caused the problem, they are there now, and what they can demonstrate to us, through their changed behaviour, is that they are different to those who went before them. This is not about being self-congratulatory, but we have a strong expectation that they do the right thing by their customers. I am glad to see movement in this direction - it is no more than that - but it should not have happened in the first instance. The lenders in question are entirely responsible, and no one else, and we should hold their feet to the fire on that. I think the work of the regulator together with the public spotlight has actually done that. It is a pity it has come to that but it is absolutely necessary that we align to ensure we get further change, and I want to see that change continue.