LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's biggest banks would have to raise billions of pounds to achieve complete independence from state support, according to research from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development.
To become standalone institutions, the banks would have to raise their core capital ratios above 20 percent, the Paris based group said in the Telegraph newspaper.
Britain's banks are currently operating with ratios of 8-10 percent, the newspaper added.
Last October the British government bailed out three banks - Royal Bank of Scotland (Royal Bank of Scotland Group (), Lloyds TSB and HBOS - with a 37 billion-pound cash injection aimed at strengthening their capital reserves in the face of the credit crunch.
RBS and Lloyds (Lloyds Banking Group PLC), Britain's two largest retail banks, secured another 31 billion pounds from the government on Tuesday and agreed to sell branches and key businesses to appease EU competition concerns over state aid.
(Reporting by Michael Taylor)