Schedule 8: Cash access services Part 1 – New Part 8B of FSMA 2000 Designation Section 131S: Designation criteria
This section sets out the purpose and criteria that HM Treasury must have regard to when designating a person.
	Subsection (1) provides that HM Treasury may only designate a person if it is satisfied that this is likely to further the FCA’s purpose of seeking to ensure reasonable provision of cash access services (see section 131U).
	Subsection (2) sets out criteria that HM Treasury must have regard to when considering whether to designate a relevant current account provider. These are:
the distribution of cash access services operated by the provider in the United Kingdom, Great Britain or Northern Ireland (as the case may be);
the distribution in the United Kingdom, Great Britain or Northern Ireland (as the case may be) of persons holding current accounts provided by the provider;
the provider’s share of the current account market in the United Kingdom, Great Britain or Northern Ireland (as the case may be);
the total value of the deposits held in current accounts provided by the provider in the United Kingdom, Great Britain or Northern Ireland (as the case may be).
	Subsection (3) makes clear that where a relevant current account provider is part of a group which includes other relevant current account providers, for example where there may be multiple banks within a banking group, references to "provider" are to be read as both the relevant current account provider HM Treasury is considering whether to designate and each of the other relevant current account providers that are part of the group. This allows HM Treasury, when considering whether to designate a person, to take into account the other relevant current account providers that are part of the group in accordance with the criteria in subsection (2).
	Subsection (4) provides that for the purposes of subsection (3) a "group" means the definition applied under section 421 of FSMA 2000, with the omission of subsection (1)(g) of that section as this relates to friendly societies, which are excluded from the definition of relevant current account providers under this Part.