Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to weaken the ring-fence scheme separating retail and investment banks.

The Government has no plans to weaken the ring-fence legislation.

The ring-fencing of retail from wholesale/investment banking is central to the Government’s structural reforms of UK banks. Ring-fencing was a key recommendation of the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB), established in June 2010 and chaired by Sir John Vickers. Ring-fencing will insulate retail banking services (whose continuous provision is essential to financial stability and to the wider economy) from shocks originating elsewhere in the global financial system. It will also make ring-fenced retail banks simpler and easier for the authorities to resolve should they or their wider corporate groups fail.