Treasury Minister Allan Bell has spelled out the potential cost of the new depositors' compensation scheme he is asking Tynwald to approve.

In the past few minutes he told the court the new scheme - with protection for individuals of up to ?50,000 - introduced major changes, with which many would be uneasy.

He said the scheme drawn up by Treasury attempted to respond to members' concerns and those of the banking industry, while at the same time considering the overall affordability of the proposals.

Mr Bell said it introduced the concept of the tax payer sharing the risk and potential cost of a bank failure, with a maximum sum of ?150 million being called upon (audio file attached):

Mr Bell said the scheme before Tynwald today included all the categories of depositor which were included in the previous, 1991 scheme.