Bank shares tumble on ring fencing talk

Shares in major UK banks have fallen following reports Chancellor George Osborne will force lenders to ring-fence their retail arms.

Osborne is expected to support the Independent Commission on Banking's recommendation for institutions to split their retail and investment arms in his Mansion House speech tonight. Markets reacted negatively to the speculation amid fears it would limit the competitiveness of the UK banking sector. Shares in Britain's major banks saw an iindiscriminate sell-off, with Barclays, RBS, Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered and HSBC down between 0.9% and 1.3% early in the afternoon. The falls kept the FTSE index in negative territory, with London's leading index down 0.7% early after...