Paul Tucker, deputy governor of the Bank of England, has warned against the drift towards a Balkanised system of bank resolution, in which host-country authorities wind up the local arms of foreign banks. In the event of a large, cross-border bank failing, any value held in the solvent offshoots of the institution could be lost during what would be a fragmented, messy affair, he argues.

"Independent, host-country resolutions executed in an unco-ordinated way around the world would not only break