Banks are starting to look like utilities, Brewin Dolphin says

Britain's banks are becoming more like utilities as they focus on traditional retail banking rather than "casino" investment banking after the financial crisis, according to broker Brewin Dolphin.The banks are increasingly adopting characteristics common among defensive stocks like utilities, such as low growth and more consistent returns on capital, the broker said.As the sector is now more tightly regulated, it is likely to generate lower returns on capital than it did before the banking crisis, Brewin said. "Despite the broadly lower headline returns, we welcome this evolution of British banks as they begin to share some of the characteristics commonly associated with investing in utilities. This is likely to make banking a stronger and more stable sector for investment," said James Box, equity analyst at Brewin Dolphin. Box said low-cost players were likely to be the long term winners because a cost advantage allows more choice and flexibility in pricing products."We also prefer banks that provide simple products and therefore have relatively transparent balance sheets," Box said.Charles Stanley's head of research Jeremy Batstone-Carr has also advised investors seeking steady incomes and dividends to consider putting their money in banks such as Barclays and Lloyds.