<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>

蘇格蘭皇家銀行

巴克萊銀行

匯豐控股有限公司

勞埃德銀行集團

<p>英國財政部計劃對環形保護制度進行改革，以保護主要零售銀行的存款人並刺激經濟增長。財政大臣瑞秋·裏夫斯（Rachel Reeves）旨在為巴克萊銀行、滙豐銀行、勞埃德銀行、蘇格蘭皇家銀行和桑坦德英國解鎖數十億的貸款能力。批評者認為，現行規則通過束縛資本來阻礙增長。擬議的變更將允許銀行更多地參與更安全的環形保護業務，包括向公共金融機構和基礎設施項目提供貸款</p>

裏夫斯計劃改革圍欄制度以推動英國經濟發展