LO VEISALLYOUNEED...THERESTI SLU XURYI NCLUDED ® Please visit sandals.co.uk for full terms & conditions. ABTA & ATOL protected. Visitsandals.co.ukSeeyour local travel agent | Call 0800 742 742 TO BOOK THE WORLD’S MOST ROMANTIC ALL-INCLUSIVE RESORTS JAMAICA SAINT LUCIA ANTIGUA BAHAMAS 16 YEARS RUNNING WORLD’S LEADING ALL-INCLUSIVE RESORTS SAVE 35% UP TO * * PLUS ONE FREE NIGHT VALENTINE’S SPECIAL SAVE £100* PER BOOKING QUOTE ‘VALENTINE’ TO BOOK. BOOK BY 19TH FEB 2012 visit sandals.co.ukLOVE IS ALL YOU NEED FTSE 100 ▼5,885.38 -6.78 DOW ▲12,904.01 +123.06 NASDAQ ▲2,959.85 +44.02 £/$ ▲1.58 +0.01 £/¤ 1.20 unc ¤/$ ▲1.31 +0. 01 Former banking star takes John Lewis job FREE BUSINESS WITH PERSONALITY BRITISH retail banks must act fast to encourage competition or face the threat of being broken up, a leading regulato r has warned. John Fingleton, head of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), yesterday said he would contemplate asking for a Competition Commission investiga- tion into the sector unless there was a “step change” in the way banks operate that makes it simpler for customers to switch accounts. Fingleton also called for more transparent pricing, suggesting it is difficult to encourage switching ifcustomers “perceive that their bank- ing is free”. He used a speech to bankers to declare the current system was “manifestly not working well for consumers” and suggested that the lack of competition meant newentrants were seeing “limited rewards from innovating ”. “We need to see evidence which demonstrates that the market dynamics of entry and switching are sufficient to drive stronger cus- tomer-focused competition,” said Fingleton. “Without this, the obvious ques- tion is whether the concentrated market structure of UK banking is the problem. And one way to consid- er this question is a reference to the Competition Commission,” he added, drawing parallels with the enforced break-up of airport opera- tor BAA. New entrants such as Metro Bankand Virgin Money provide a distinc- tive product but the market contin- ues to be dominated by the traditional “big four” of Lloyds, RBS, HSBC and Barclays. The long-awaited arrival of Tesco Bank has now been postponed until late 2013 to allow for the full imple- mentation of an industry-wide auto- matic redirection service that will allow consumers to transfer all direct debits and payment arrange- ments to a new provider within seven days. The OFT has already announced its intention to conduct a review of cur- rent account market later this year and will report back in early 2013. Issue 1,573 Friday 17 February 2012 Certified Distribution 02/01/12 till 29/01/12 is 92,258 THE BEST NEW LUXURY WATCHES LONDON TIME: OUR EXCLUSIVE WATCH SUPPLEMENT P2 1 BY JAMES WATERSON BANKING ▲ HELEN WEIR, the former head ofretail banking at Lloyds Banking Group, has been appointed by John Lewis as group finance director, mak- ing a return to the sector eight years after leaving the same post with the DIY retailer Kingfisher. John Lewis said Weir will formallyjoin the company in April, replacing Marisa Cassoni at the beginning ofJune, whose plan to retire was announced in September last year. Weir left Kingfisher in 2004 and joined Lloyds as finance director. The 49 year old became one of the most powerful women in British banking after taking over the reins as retail banking chief in 2008. She quit last year after António Horta-Osório announced a board shake-up barely a week after becom- ing chief executive of the bailed-out bank. BY KASMIRA JEFFORD RETAIL ▲ Helen Weir was formerly head of retail at Lloyds Banking Group Watchdog warns of competition probe PERSONAL CURRENT ACCOUNT MARKET SHARE Lloyds RBS HSBC Barclays Santander Nationwide 25% 15% 14 % 13% 13% 7% 6.6% Co-op 2% currently; + 4.6% with Lloyds sale BANKS FACE NEW THREAT OF BREAK UP www.cityam.com