Bank shares tumble on ring fencing talk

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. Shares in Britain's major banks fell sharply today ahead of the expected announcement, with shares in RBS, Lloyds Banking Group, Standard Chartered and HSBC falling between 0.9% and 1.9%. Falling bank shares helped push the FTSE into negative territory, with London's leading index down 0.5% in morning trading before recovering slightly. The ring fencing plan is designed to limit the fallout from a futur...