'Banks on steroids' worry France

Ms Lagarde is worried about "abusive behaviour" by banks

French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde has warned that huge bailed-out banks created by the financial crisis could abuse their new power.

She has asked other countries to look at the lack of competition from banks "on steroids, relying on public money".

Governments have stepped in to lend taxpayer support to several troubled banks, including Citigroup and Royal Bank of Scotland.

The warning comes as European Union finance ministers meet this week.

"Look at investment banks in the United States where, before the crisis, there were about six. Today there are about three," Ms Lagarde said.

"I believe that all that doesn't happen without some effect on competition and abusive behaviour."

Bonus concerns

She said she had asked the Financial Stability Board - a global financial oversight body formed by the G20 group of richest nations at their meeting in London earlier this year - to examine whether some banks were "in the process of forming oligopolies for certain products in certain markets".

Ms Lagarde also asked it to look at how any lack of competition between banks is affecting bankers' pay.

France has been vocal in pressing for more to be done to stop excessive bonuses in the banking sector, saying the huge bonuses on offer are to blame for bankers taking the kind of risks that led to the financial crisis.

French banks, under government pressure, have agreed to curb their bonus payouts.

Some fear this could encourage staff to move elsewhere to earn more.