UK Business Secretary In Bid To Split Banks - Report

13th Jun 2010 13:29

LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. Business Secretary Vince Cable is keen on separating retail from investment banking despite assurances from the Treasury that the prospect of such a split hasn't been concluded yet, the Sunday Telegraph reported. "The coalition agreement is quite explicit ... The purpose of this commission is to look at the separation of retail and investment banking, that's the terms of reference," the report cited Cable as telling a documentary on banking to be screened by Channel 4 on Monday. The Telegraph report said Cable, the Liberal Democrat Cabinet minister, "is thought to be distant" from the Conservative Chancellor, George Osborne. Cable was quoted as saying that there was an obvious "direction of travel" towards separating retail and investment banking. He also suggested that the U.K. could act unilaterally if there was no global agreement. "How we do that, over what time frame, whether you do that nationally or internationally, that kind of issue we have to pursue. But that is the clear direction in which we are going," Cable said. The Telegraph report cited sources as saying that Osborne would make no decisions on banking until a banking commission put out its report in the first half of next year. Newspaper Web site: http://www.telegraph.co.uk -London Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9320 (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 13, 2010 08:29 ET (12:29 GMT)