Banks plan harks back to 1940s way of lending {uk}

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http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/09/12/uk-britain-banks-regulation-idUKTRE78B3O320110912

(Reuters) - Britain's shake-up of its banks to protect taxpayers buries once and for all its "light touch" reputation and takes the sector back to a simpler, 1940s style of high street lending.

Pushing well beyond new international regulations, the Independent Commission on Banking's (ICB) final report, broadly endorsed by government, will force big and costly organisational surgery on Britain's main banks.

"Our recommendations are very much with the grain of what is happening internationally but in important respects we are going further on capital requirements, getting more detailed on loss-absorbing debt," ICB Chairman John Vickers told reporters.

Only Switzerland is planning similarly high capital ratios for its banks but Britain is going a step further with deeper reform after spending about a trillion pounds shoring up the sector.

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