Examination of Witnesses (Questions 80-99)
MR JOHN
HARDY AND
MR HOWARD
AIKEN
21 DECEMBER 2004
Q80 Mr Plaskitt: By means of a vote did
you say?
Mr Aiken: Yes.
Q81 Mr Plaskitt: How is the voting arranged?
Mr Hardy: The percentage of votes
each member has is dictated by the volume of transactions they
put through the system.
Q82 Mr Plaskitt: So it is weighted voting?
Mr Hardy: Yes.
Q83 Mr Plaskitt: So who has got the heaviest
votes in the LINK organisation?
Mr Aiken: It is the big banks
because they both issue more cards and their customers do
more transactions and they tend to have more ATMs or more transactions
out of ATMs, so they have the biggest votes.
Q84 Mr Plaskitt: So when a proposition
is put to the LINK Board, if it is not supported by two or three
of your largest members, it cannot get support?
Mr Aiken: No, there is a cap on
voting, so no member has more than 15% of the vote.
Q85 Mr Plaskitt: So just tell us, who
has the biggest block vote then?
Mr Aiken: The Royal Bank of Scotland,
Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, HBoS. They are the largest ones.
Q86 Mr Plaskitt: So between them they
will have about 50% of the vote then?
Mr Aiken: Yes, about that.
Q87 Mr Plaskitt: So the four or five
biggest operators can basically carry the organisation or determine
its direction?
Mr Hardy: No, that is not so.
If there are fundamental changes to the rules, it requires
an 80% supermajority in the Network Members'
Council, so it has to be pretty well unanimous.
Q88 Mr Plaskitt: When a proposition was
put to the Board a couple of years ago that all the charging ATM
machines should have external signage, do you recall that?
Mr Aiken: Yes.
Q89 Mr Plaskitt: What was the outcome
of the deliberation on that?
Mr Aiken: That was almost unanimous.
Only one member voted against that.
Q90 Mr Plaskitt: Against?
Mr Aiken: Against having external
signage.
Q91 Mr Plaskitt: No, when it was first
put to the Board.
Mr Aiken: Yes, a rule came into
effect from April of this year—
Q92 Mr Plaskitt: Yes, but a couple of
years before that, the idea was put to your Board. What decision
was made then?
Mr Aiken: I do not recall that.
The decision introduced in April was made about nine months previously
to that.
Mr Hardy: I am uncertain as to
which decision you are talking about.
Mr Aiken: I do not recall a vote
prior to that.
Q93 Mr Plaskitt: I will drop you a note
about that. Can I ask whether LINK has a consultancy arm?
Mr Hardy: Yes, we have a small
number of people, two or three, who are capable of doing market
research and statistical analysis.
Q94 Mr Plaskitt: Who do they do that
for?
Mr Hardy: Members or non-members
who want to take advantage of it.
Q95 Mr Plaskitt: Is it a sizeable part
of LINK's business?
Mr Hardy: No, it is not.
Q96 Mr Plaskitt: What is LINK's definition
of "convenience" when we are talking about a "convenient
location"?
Mr Aiken: We do not have a definition
of "convenience".
Q97 Mr Plaskitt: No definition?
Mr Aiken: No, because in our rules
we have branch and non-branch and those were definitions which
the Office of Fair Trading have looked at and have agreed to,
so we have branch and non-branch and there is no definition of
"convenience".
Q98 Mr Plaskitt: So, as far as you are
concerned, the term "convenience" in this context does
not actually have a meaning?
Mr Aiken: Well, I think it has
a generally accepted meaning—
Q99 Mr Plaskitt: Which is what?
Mr Aiken:— but it has no
place in the LINK rules.
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