UK PM: Bank Tax Deal Getting Closer

Brown told the Financial Times that the “relationship between banks and society has to change." Photo by EPA/BGNES

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced that the governments of the world’s leading economies are nearing agreement on a “global responsibility levy” on banks, the Financial Times reported.

Brown told the newspaper that Britain, Germany and France are in broad agreement and he hopes the US will join them.

He played down the idea that an agreement on such a levy might be reached at the June summit meeting of the Group of 20 nations in Canada, though he hopes for one at the meeting scheduled for November in South Korea, the FT said.

Brown said the “relationship between banks and society has to change,” the newspaper added.

Brown said he hopes for progress on a bank levy at the June summit in Toronto but is aware that Canada is sceptical.

He declined to say how much the tax might raise from UK banks, but cited the annual EUR 1.2 B envisaged by German Chancellor Merkel for German banks and USD 10 B planned for the US levy as examples.

Given the relative size of the financial sector in the UK, that would suggest Mr Brown is eyeing a levy in Britain of several billion pounds.