Sir David Walker is going to look at an idea for giving long-term shareholders greater voting power in public companies as part of the second stage of his UK government sponsored review of bank governance, Breakingviews.com has learnt.

Lord Myners, the City minister, told the BBC on Saturday that he wanted Walker to examine this idea as a way of improving shareholder involvement with companies.

"I would like to see David Walker step one step further outside the box of thinking he is currently in and see what are the more radical, indeed the most radical, solutions," he said.

He added that "companies are too important" for big shareholders to trade in and out of them "willy nilly".

"We've lost sight of the fact that a share certificate ... is a right and entitlement of ownership which carries with it certain responsibilities," Myners said. "It's not a piece of paper to be traded, to be bought and sold."