<div id="readability-page-1">  <p><time datetime="2026-05-16T09:19:56+01:00">    Saturday 16 May 2026 9:19 am  </time>      <span> | </span><span> Updated: </span>   <time datetime="2026-05-16T09:20:06+01:00">    Saturday 16 May 2026 9:20 am  </time></p>         <div>                                                                                                                 Add as a preferred        source on Google                        </div>    <figure>    <div>       </div> <img width="742" height="495" src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.cityam.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/HSBC-1200x800-2-1.webp/query-dz03NDI?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.cityam.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/HSBC-1200x800-2-1.webp/query-dz03NDI"/>  <figcaption>Reeves will shake up the ring-fencing regime</figcaption> </figure> <p>The Treasury is set to unveil a sweeping overhaul of the ring-fencing regime next week, in a bid to protect depositors at the UK’s biggest retail banks, as ministers scramble to boost economic growth.</p><p>According to reports in Sky News, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has signed off plans aimed at unlocking billions of pounds of additional lending capacity at five high street giants.</p><p>Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Natwest and Santander UK will all be subject to the rules.</p><p>Both government and industry figures described the changes as a move to abolish the most significantly regulatory burden imposed in the UK following the 2008 banking crisis.</p><h2 id="h-changes-to-the-regime">Changes to the regime</h2><p>The ring-fencing regime forces large banks to separate retail and SME banking operations from riskier investment and international banking in a bid to prevent retail operations from global financial shocks.</p><p>But both industry and government critics have argued the rules stifle economic growth and damages competitiveness by tying up capital that could be loaned to stimulate growth.</p><p>The rules are expected to be positioned by Reeves as an offering to boost  growth while not compromising the UK’s financial stability or depositor protection.</p><p>Under the proposals, which have been the subject of an industry wide lobbying push over the last year, banks will be able to conduct a larger proportion of their activities within safer, ring-fenced operations than before.</p><p>This will include lending to public financial institutions including the British Business Bank and the National Wealth Fund, as well as other potential infrastructure-oriented projects.</p><h2 id="h-appeasing-banks">Appeasing banks</h2><p>Labour are scrambling to appease banks and boost growth to salvage its electoral prospects, while institutions are bracing for a potential soft-left leader who could raise taxes.</p><p>The banking sector narrowly evaded a tax increase in last year’s Autumn Budget after chancellor Rachel Reeves sought reassurance that they would boost lending in the UK and publicly support her fiscal plans.</p><p>A boost to profits among some of the UK’s biggest banks has led to calls from the Labour left to raise these levies.</p><p>Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, who is among the favourites to succeed Starmer, has long been part of these calls.</p><p>Last year she proposed increased the “bank surcharge to five per cent” in a bid to raise an estimated £1.5bn a year.</p> </div>

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<p>英国财政部计划对环形保护制度进行改革，以保护主要零售银行的存款人并刺激经济增长。财政大臣瑞秋·里夫斯（Rachel Reeves）旨在为巴克莱银行、汇丰银行、劳埃德银行、苏格兰皇家银行和桑坦德英国解锁数十亿的贷款能力。批评者认为，现行规则通过束缚资本来阻碍增长。拟议的变更将允许银行更多地参与更安全的环形保护业务，包括向公共金融机构和基础设施项目提供贷款</p>

里夫斯计划改革围栏制度以推动英国经济发展