Ydw, yn sicr. Prynais iPad i fy mam yn anrheg Nadolig. Nid wyf yn gwybod sut y mae’n dod yn ei blaen ag ef. Rwy’n credu mai etholwr Julie James yw hi, nid eich un chi, nawr, Mike, ond mae hi yn Abertawe yn ceisio gwneud defnydd o’r iPad. Fodd bynnag, roedd yn ddibynnol iawn ar y banc i’w helpu i fwrw ymlaen â rhai o’r pethau y gallwch eu gwneud yn ddigidol yn awr. Felly, mae yna ymrwymiad gwirioneddol yno, ymrwymiad cymunedol, ac mae angen iddo ddigwydd.

I agree entirely with that point. To highlight that point, it is true to say that people are using branches less and less, and the greatest growth isn’t online; it’s on mobile phones and the banking apps available, and that’s where the greatest growth is. There is a little bit of risk entailed here, because it does mean that easy credit is available without people, necessarily, discussing whether they have particular credit needs and can they really afford to take these loans. When you go into a bank—. I remember getting my first mortgage, and it was like going through some court of law, standing in front of the bank manager. Now, you can do it online and there are people offering you a mortgage decision in half an hour or an hour. I’m not quite sure that this is the kind of fiscal culture and the information about financial needs we want to see developing here in Wales.

There are some specific issues too. The closure of a main branch in a town, particularly a market town—and there’s a recent example in my region, in Porthmadog—has a psychological impact on the town. We’ve already heard about the buildings and how important buildings can be, but people feel that they are losing something that was an important part of their community. There may be an echo here of the time when banks were truly local banks. It was your Lloyds, TSB or Bank of the Black Sheep. People are now feeling that they are losing something, which is important to them. Small businesses particularly feel that impact. The chair of the Federation of Small Businesses, Janet Jones, said that small businesses want a relationship not with the branch but with the people in that branch and the people managing their accounts.

I orffen, Lywydd, mae’r banciau ychydig yn ddyledus i ni. Fe wnaethom eu hachub 10 mlynedd yn ôl. Fe wnaethom ganiatáu iddynt barhau—fe wnaethom ganiatáu iddynt barhau â’u ffordd braidd yn rheibus o fancio manwerthu a chyfanwerthu yn ogystal. Erbyn hyn rhaid iddynt dalu rhywfaint o sylw i anghenion democrataidd go iawn ein dinasyddion. Mae mynediad at wasanaethau bancio yn hawl sylfaenol absoliwt. Nid yw bellach yn fraint; mae’n hawl. Ni allwch fod yn ddinesydd llawn oni bai bod gennych fynediad at wasanaethau bancio. Mae’n rhaid i ni weithio gyda banciau, gweithio gyda swyddfeydd post a gweithio gyda modelau amgen, ond mae’n rhaid iddynt weithio gyda ni yn ogystal i sicrhau nad ydym yn amddifadu ein cymunedau.