Banking commission may break up big banks

In a consultation document published today, the government’s new Independent Commission on Banking lays out six main options for overhauling the financial sector. They include the radical option of separating all retail and investment banking.

Sir John Vickers, chair of the new group, said they would be asking “hard questions”, though he stressed that no decision had yet been taken. The document is open for comment until November.

The commission suggests it might be possible to use the various taxpayers’ stakes in banks bailed out during the credit crunch to lever restructuring on the highstreet.

Read a full report at the Guardian ·