On 14 October 2024, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Tulip Siddiq MP made a statement regarding reforms to bank ring-fencing.
The statement provides that the government will implement a package of reforms as soon as parliamentary time allows and such reforms will include:
- The introduction of a secondary threshold to exempt retail-focussed banking groups from the regime – where investment banking activity accounts for less than 10% of Tier 1 capital.
- New flexibilities to allow ring-fenced banks to operate globally, subject to PRA rules.
- Measures to encourage more investment by ring-fenced banks in UK SMEs.
- Measures to reduce the compliance burdens associated with the regime.
- An increase in the primary deposit threshold for ring-fenced banks, from £25bn to £35bn.