Sir John Vickers, formerly a chief economist at the Bank of England and a member of its rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), was on Wednesday named chair of an influential committee which will hold sway over the fate of Britain's banks.

Sir John, who served on the MPC from June 1998 to September 2000, will chair the Independent Commission on Banking, a new committee set up by George Osborne, the chancellor of the exchequer, tasked with formulating policy recommendations post-crisis.

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