Britain Talks About Break-Up Law for Banks

British finance Minister George Osborne toughened official rhetoric concerning “too big to fail” banks. He told bankers that systemic banks could be broken up in extreme cases, speaking at an even hosted by JP Morgan in England.

Chancellor George Osborne leaves 11 Downing Street on Jan. 7 in London, England. Osborne recently talked about the possibility of breaking up "too big to fail" banks during a crisis. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

In the wake of several banking scandals, Great Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer (Finance Minister) Osborne entertained the idea of breaking up big integrated financial institutions.

He spoke about a possible new law to facilitate this process at a recent speech in Bournemouth, England.

“Our country has paid a higher price than any other major economy for what went so badly wrong in our banking system. The anger people feel is very real,” Osborne said in a speech at the offices of JP Morgan, according to a Reuters report.

The complete set of regulations is yet to be published, but it is clear that Britain wants to take some more drastic measures. Osborne said the country is planning to include a provision that will make it possible to split off core retail activities from more speculative divisions, such as an investment bank’s proprietary trading operations.