> UK: ... It forced them to retreat from many businesses and to shrink. The UK Banks didn't so much retreat as split their business in to a ring fenced operati

> UK: ... It forced them to retreat from many businesses and to shrink. The UK Banks didn't so much retreat as split their business in to a ring fenced operation (for retail), and a non ring fenced operation. The non ring fenced operations sometimes having their customer facing portion offshore in IOM, Gibralter or Channel Isles subsidiaries. I believe one or two may have completely retreated. Stuff like over the counter share trading which used to be available in UK Retail banks, no longer is. One has to deal directly with a stock broker operation (which could just be another company in the same bank group).