ICB: We are pursuing ‘moderate measures’

The Independent Commission on Banking’s interim report recommended that retail banking should be ring-fenced:

“It is open to debate whether a retail ring-fence would give more or less banking stability than full separation between retail banking and wholesale and investment banking.

“Rather than pursuing more radical policies towards capital or structure, the approach outlined above is a combination of more moderate measures. They nevertheless entail costs to banks, some of which fall on the wider economy, but these appear to the commission to be outweighed by the benefits of materially reducing the probability and impact of financial crises.”