Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has given full backing to the capital-buffer requirements proposed by the Independent Commission on Banking, pledging that the requirements will be imposed on the overseas operations of UK-headquartered banks.

In response to the Independent Commission on Banking's final recommendations, published in September and chaired by Sir John Vickers, Osborne said: "We want to separate high street banking from investment banking to protect the British economy, protect British taxpayers and make sure that nothing is too big to fail."