SAVERS will be given greater protection if a bank collapses under long-awaited proposals due to be announced by the Government today.

Chancellor George Osborne’s banking white paper follows last year’s recommendations by the Independent Commission on Banking, led by Sir John Vickers, on how to make the sector safer and give extra security to savers.

Mr Osborne is expected to press ahead with the ICB’s more contentious proposals that will see individual depositors ranked above bondholders and corporate creditors when it comes to recovering cash owed after a bank failure.

But he is considering an important concession to the banks by broadening the range of activities allowed in “ring-fenced” businesses.