Lee Kuan Yew on investment vs deposit banking.  BusinessWeek:

The U.S. and U.K. are unlikely to separate banks into deposit-taking and investing activities, Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said.

Lee, chairman of Government of Singapore Investment Corp., a shareholder of UBS AG and Citigroup Inc., said he agrees with former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker’s proposal to separate the activities.

Still, the U.S. and U.K. are too dependent on their financial industries to make the change, said Lee, the founding father of modern Singapore. “It would be a safer banking system,” he said. “Would it happen? I don’t think so.” Lee was responding to a question in a dialogue session with about 500 delegates at the Inter-Pacific Bar Association conference at the Marina Bay Sands convention center in Singapore today.