London - Arabstoday
Britain’s banks won plenty of time on Monday to make costly structural reforms after the government backed recommendations that lenders have until 2019 to “ring-fence” retail operations and hike capital reserves. Finance minister George Osborne said that the coalition would begin drawing up new legislation backing the government-appointed commission’s call that banks such as HSBC and Barclays implement sweeping reforms. They are facing radical change in order to avoid a repeat of the massive state bailouts of lenders. The Independent Commission Banking recommended in a final report on Monday that lenders’ retail operations should be protected against losses at their investment units.