Britain to Implement Vickers’ Bank Protection Plan by 2019

Britain’s government will force lenders to insulate their consumer banking units by 2019 as Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne seeks to shield customers and taxpayers from another financial crisis.

The Independent Commission on Banking, chaired by former Bank of England Chief Economist John Vickers, recommended in a 360-page report published today that banks build fire breaks between their consumer and investment banks. The plans will cost the industry as much 7 billion pounds ($11 billion), the report said. Osborne, 40, pledged the government will legislate by the end of the current parliamentary session in 2015. British bank shares fell.