To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the impact of money laundering prevention measures on the availability of UK bank accounts to UK citizens living and working abroad. (244994)

[holding answer 18 December 2008]: I am advised that money laundering requirements, principally the Money Laundering Regulations 2007, and other anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist finance legislation, are not a determining factor in banks’ decisions to make available UK personal current accounts or savings accounts to persons without an address in the UK. I understand that decisions are taken largely on commercial grounds.