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* Competition watchdog could order bank break-ups
* Watchdog could order clearer pricing, comparisons
* Tesco Bank CEO says some banks offering a poor deal
By Matt Scuffham
LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Moves to improve competitionwithin Britain's banking industry have not yet had the desiredeffect, the head of the competition watchdog said, raising theprospect that the country's biggest banks could be broken up.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigatingthe market for personal current accounts and small businessbanking services and will decide what measures must be taken byMay 2016.
Its Chief Executive Alex Chisholm said in a submission toNew City Agenda, an independent political think tank, that theCMA could order banks to sell assets or tell them to provideclearer pricing and comparisons between different products.
Unlike previous investigations into the industry, the CMAhas the power to order banks to take actions rather than justmake recommendations, Chisholm said, and those actions may alsorequire changes to current laws and regulations.
Chisolm said moves to stimulate competition, includingensuring customers can switch banks in seven working days, hadnot had the desired effect.
"They don't seem to us yet to have had the transformativeeffect hoped for, and the long-standing concerns aboutcompetition in retail banking largely remain," he said.
Britain's biggest four banks -- Lloyds, Royal Bank ofScotland (RBS), Barclays and HSBC --control more than three quarters of current accounts and providenine out of 10 business loans.
Some lawmakers blame a lack of choice for scandals that haveengulfed the industry in recent years including the mis-sellingof loan insurance and complex hedging products and shoddytreatment of small businesses in financial difficulty.
State-backed RBS and Lloyds could come under particularscrutiny in the investigation. Lloyds is Britain's biggestprovider of personal current accounts, while RBS providesservices to more UK small businesses than any rivals.
Lloyds boss Antonio Horta-Osorio called on Tuesday forgreater competition in banking services to small firms.
In a further submission to the think tank, Tesco Bank's Chief Executive Benny Higgins criticised the way someof Britain's biggest banks treated customers.
"Many of the banks get away with offering their customers avery poor deal -- generating billions of pounds in revenue forthemselves as a result," he said.
Higgins, a former RBS executive, said greater transparencyin pricing was needed to stimulate competition.
In another submission, Paul Pester, chief executive of newbank TSB said greater competition was "the only way todeliver the kind of banking customers want". (Editing by Mark Potter)
