NatWest Group PLC (LSE:NWG) boss Alison Rose has agreed to attend a Treasury Committee session next week to explain why UK banks are passing so little of the recent rises in interest rates on to savers.
Rose initially said she was too busy to attend, but in a statement, a spokesman for the bank, which is still 46% owned by the UK taxpayer, said following discussions with the Committee she had made room in her diary.
Harriett Baldwin, chair of the committee, said she wanted Rose there so it would not be an all-male panel.
NatWest had originally said retail bank boss David Lindberg was an "appropriate" person to represent the bank.
"Public scrutiny of our largest financial institutions is vital," Baldwin said in a statement on Thursday.
Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LSE:LLOY) chief executive Charlie Nunn, HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:HSBA) UK boss Ian Stuart and Barclays PLC (LSE:BARC) UK boss Matt Hammerstein will all be quizzed by the select committee over the lag in savings rates going up in comparison with mortgage rates for example.
On Thursday, the Bank of England raised interest rates to 4%, the highest base rate since 2008, but basic savings accounts at the four big high street banks pay between 0.5% and 0.65%, the committee said in a statement.
Banks make most of their profits on the difference between savings rates and how much they charge for loans.