The touted government plan to toughen up the Banking Code that banks use to set out the terms on which they treat their customers was not included in the Banking Bill announced in the Queen's Speech. However, the FSA will be tasked with its implementation.

The British Bankers' Association (BBA) said that bringing the Banking Code more firmly into statutory regulation is now appropriate and that it has no problems with this approach.

Angela Knight, chief executive of the BBA said: "We have been in discussion with the Government and FSA for some months on giving more certainty to all stakeholders by putting the Banking Codes on to a statutory footing. The codes have served their purpose well in bridging the gap between what comes under the remit of the FSA, and credit which does not. Many different entities provide lending to people and to businesses and clearly these need to be included in any new legislative requirements.