Lord Myners calls for big bank break-up

Lord Myners, City minister in the last government and a key figure in the financial bail-outs at the height of the global crisis, has called for a break-up of Britain's biggest banks, the Financial Times reports.

Writing in today's FT, Myners says the future of the industry "lies in less monolithic institutions" and urges the Commission on Banking, appointed by the incoming coalition government, to focus on boosting competition. "The banking commission must give proper consideration to splitting one or both of Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland." However, the FT suggests this is a U-turn from his past stance on the issue. At the time of the bailouts, the then-City minister supported Alistair Darling's defence of Britain's global ‘super banks', arguing they should not be forced bac...