More like this
Osborne to say banks must ring-fence retail arms
Business digest: Northern Rock privatisation and minimum capital requirement to be announced
In a speech today, chancellor George Osborne will announce that the coalition supports proposals to force banks to ring-fence retail from investment operations.
The chancellor will also use his annual Mansion House speech to say that Northern Rock – the former mutual which was saved from collapse when it was nationalised in February 2008 – will be privatised.
According to BBC business editor Robert Peston, the changes mark "the most significant reform to our banking system since the Big Bang in 1986 made it much easier for our giant banks to buy stock brokers and become huge in investment banking".
Osborne is also expected to say that banks need to protect themselves better by holding more capital than the current internationally agreed minimum of seven per cent of their risky assets.
Read a full report at BBC News. ·
