Alistair Darling is expected to propose a series of health warnings to be issued with financial products to minimise the risk of a recession occurring again, it has been suggested.

The visible risk alerts are likely to be extended to mortgage and pension products in particular, the Guardian predicts, which will help reform the banking industry.

It is expected that a three-pronged approach to the financial crisis will be followed, which will help avoid another systematic breakdown of the financial sector.

Speaking to the paper, Mick McAteer, director of the Financial Inclusion Centre, said: "Competition in the UK banking sector has been weak due to the stranglehold the big players have on the high street.

"As a result of the financial crisis, there is a risk that they will consolidate this stranglehold and that competition will be further undermined."

The British Chambers of Commerce Economic Survey showed that the worst of the recession is over as both the manufacturing and service sectors saw improvement during the second quarter of the year.