12 September is the scheduled date of publication of the report by the Vickers Commission on bank reform. In a recent speech, the Chancellor appeared to put his weight behind the option of ringfencing the retail customer, mortgages and small business loans from the investment business and securiites trading arms of the large banks.

The question currently being considered is whether this will make banks safer or will in fact damage the recovery. From a lawyer's perspective, the devil is very often in the detail, and it will be interesting to see, if ringfencing is adopted, which activities will be ringfenced. A recent article in the Times made the point that three-quarters of the losses sustained by British banks were due to basic mortgage defaults.

Also, many feel concerned that if any such exercise is coupled with further regulation, this will make banks even more reluctant to lend than is currently the case. In any event, it will take many years to assess properly whether any such reforms have worked.