The Government has accepted in full the findings and recommendations of the independent Competition Commission following its investigation into the supply of banking services to SMEs. The Commission's report, which is being published today, finds that a complex monopoly exists in the market and that as a result SMEs in England and Wales are being overcharged for their banking services.
Chancellor Gordon Brown said: "Our starting point and guiding objective is our belief in competition as the spur to efficiency, innovation and competitiveness.
"There are over 3.5 million small businesses in the UK representing 55 per cent of jobs, 50 per cent of all business turnover and economic activity of #1 trillion a year, and the access to finance and the quality of service they receive from banks are key to their, and the British economy's, productivity and prosperity.