Sir John Vickers, the head of the UK's Independent Commission on Banking, on Saturday discussed the desirability of some separation between investment and retail banking, while ruling out a radical structural overhaul that would produce narrow banks.

Vickers, a former chief economist at the Bank of England, said that although the commission would not advocate a "radical form of narrow banking", the rationale underpinning the idea was appealing as it foisted risk back onto markets.

Addressing the