Meeting held on Thursday 13^th May 2004 at 11.00am, 3^rd Floor Conference Room, Insolvency Service headquarters, Ladywood House, 45-46 Stephenson Street, Birmingham.

Eddie Doherty welcomed attendees to the user group and advised that apologies had been received from:

Alyson Williams

Nigel Mallett

Angela Hodgson

Suzy Smith

David Kerr

            1a) IP Banking Website

 Eddie advised that the ‘Guide to IP Banking’ available on the website would be updated to incorporate the new fees.

             1b) Amended payees

 Eddie advised that we were no longer manually amending retuned cheques and informed the group that we were now canceling and re-issuing new cheques.

             1c) Dividend details

 Eddie thanked Chris Collins for providing us with the statutory disclosures to creditors included with dividend payments.

2. Organisation of IP Banking

Jim advised that Eddie would be leaving IP Banking on promotion on the 28^th May 2004. Jim also informed the group that Zoë Drew had taken up post as Payments manager.

3. Performance

Ron discussed performance and advised the group that overall volumes were much the same as the previous year. Receipts and Payments were up again but this was counteracted by falls in other areas.

4. Security

Ron addressed the user group on security and circulated copies of the latest cheque fraud. In all instances the fraud was detected and no financial loss was borne by the Insolvency Service.

Eddie confirmed that the laser printers were fully operational after a successful change over.

5. Enterprise act

Eddie expressed his thanks to the users for their patience during system downtime, as updates to accommodate the changes to the financial regime were loaded.

There followed a lengthy discussion on the process of charging and rebating banking fees. IP Banking will issue guidance on the process to clarify interpretation of the legislation.

The group agreed that the rate of interest payable to Insolvency estates is one of the major factors when deciding where to bank funds in Voluntary liquidations. Jim stated that the service provided by IP Banking should be of equal consideration. Jim confirmed that the plan was to review the interest rate in October 2004. However if rates continue to fluctuate the rate will be reviewed prior to October.

6. CAMEO

Eddie advised that the development stage of CAMEO is drawing to a close, and that system testing would be starting soon, which would then be followed by user testing. The go live date is scheduled for April 2005.

7. Data Cleaning

Eddie stressed the importance of keeping us informed when a case is closed. This is particularly important due to the automatic charging of the quarterly banking fees.

8. Proposal for payment of gross interest

Jim advised the group that he had been asked by an insolvency practitioner to investigate the possibility of paying interest gross rather than net to avoid additional work for IPs due to the completion of tax returns. Various discussions over the viability of changing credits from net to gross concerning liquidations followed, and it was agreed that it would be less problematic to implement the change for bankruptcy estates. Jim advised that he would investigate the legal implications with relation to Insolvency legislation and will liaise with Inland Revenue, and report back findings.

9. Any Other Business

Isobel Higgins advised that a number of CAU 101 forms were going astray, and was interested to know if they were being lost within IP Banking or if it was due to the current problems concerning The Royal Mail. Eddie advised that IP Banking operates a secure post opening process and every effort is made to ensure that the post received in the office is actioned. However there has been instances of delays in delivery by Royal Mail and DX, therefore it makes it difficult to trace the exact cause of the problem.

Kevin Doughty asked why an original requisition was required to re-issue a cancelled cheque. Helen informed the group that the current audited procedure is to request an original signed letter or requisition for the re-issue of a replacement cheque. Changes to current procedures will be investigated and discussed with auditors. If a change is agreed, insolvency practitioners will be advised accordingly.

Eddie advised the group that he had received three requests from staff within separate IP firms who wished to join the user group. It was agreed that it was an ideal opportunity to review the membership of the group and confirm that there was representation of IP Banking’s customers at all levels. Membership of the group will be confined to one representative of each office. It was agreed that Chris Collins would be the sole representative for PricewaterhouseCoopers, Gloucester.

Eddie thanked everyone for their input. The next meeting is scheduled for 11am on Thursday October 28 2004 @ The Insolvency Headquarters in Birmingham.