Banking inquiry to consider break-ups

The Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) is mulling whether to split banks' retail and investment operations.

Chaired by Sir John Vickers, the Commission was set up to look at financial stability and competition. As well as a possible split of the banks, the ICB will also look at whether "market concentration" should be reduced. This could result in visible changes to the way the banks operate on the High Street, the BBC reports. Other topics for scrutiny include whether banks should be restricted on the levels of their own funds they can use for investment trading. It will also investigate if an institution should have a "living will" or declaration of how a bank would wind itself down s...