Brown rules out break-up of banks

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The Prime Minister insisted that improved international regulation was the best way to ensure the stability of the system.

His comments put him at odds with the governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, who called for the banks' retail functions to be hived off from their more speculative ventures.

However, challenged by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Brown insisted that such a split would not have averted the financial crisis.

"He has got to remember that Northern Rock was effectively a retail bank and it collapsed. Lehman Brothers was effectively an investment bank without a retail bank and it collapsed," he said.

"So the difference between having a retail and an investment bank is not the cause of the problem. The cause of the problem is that banks have been insufficiently regulated at a global level and we have got to set the standards for that for the future."