By Keith Weir
LONDON, Jan 25 (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Monday he saw growing support for some form of international levy on banks to fund support for the industry.
A global transactions tax, floated by Brown at a meeting of the Group of 20 nations in Scotland in November, was on the agenda when Treasury Minister Paul Myners hosted officials from G7 finance ministries, the IMF, World Bank and the Financial Stability Board in London on Monday.
“As a result of the advancement by U.S. President (Barack) Obama and the financial secretary Tim Geithner about their levy on wholesale lending, I think the proposals that I made at St Andrews for an international levy … are now gaining currency around the world,” Brown told a news conference.
“I think you will probably see further moves to get an international agreement about some international levy to deal with the responsibility that banks owe to society,” he said.
The U.S. administration has opposed a tax on financial transactions but earlier this month U.S. President Barack Obama called for a fee to be levied on major U.S. financial institutions to recoup “every single dime” of the billions of dollars spent rescuing the financial sector.
