Ed Balls MP, Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, responding to the Competition and Markets Authority’s announcement of its provisional decision on an inquiry into bank competition, said:

“Ed Miliband and I have repeatedly called for an inquiry into bank competition, so it’s welcome that the Competition and Markets Authority is now set to start this work later this year.

“Ministers claim there is no problem to solve, but everyone else recognises that we have a lack of competition in our banking sector.

"As we said earlier this year, in the next parliament we need to see at least two new challenger banks and a market share test to ensure the market stays competitive for the long term.”