I am delighted to announce the membership of the BBRS’s SME Liaison Panel, which can now begin its work to contribute to the building of a successful service for handling banking complaints from SMEs.

The panel’s membership is diverse. It includes people with a wide experience of running SMEs; people who have experience of making complaints; people who have experience of prosecuting complaints; and people who were involved in hammering out the set-up of BBRS. There are young entrepreneurs, people with senior experience of running SMEs and working in corporates; people with experience of campaigning for better complaints systems; and people who have represented SME groups in various forums. The panel members are all strong, independent minded people whom I have selected for the contribution they can make.

The liaison panel is there to ensure that the voice and experience of SMEs is heard, and that the BBRS succeeds in providing a complaints resolution service in which SMEs can have confidence. We will be seeking information not only from the BBRS but from all those with a stake in and experience of the system. We will be monitoring how complaints handling is working in practice, whether the rules on eligibility and discretion are working as intended, and whether there are unmet needs. The panel’s members are well aware of long-standing concerns among some SMEs, and will strive to work constructively with BBRS to ensure that those concerns are addressed.