Alistair Darling, British chancellor of the exchequer, yesterday called for a global deal “to insure against the possibility of banking failure in future”, in addition to the levies on the banking industry already announced in Britain, France and the US.
Finance ministry officials from around the world will meet in London next week to discuss the options, which could include a levy on banks to cover the implicit insurance they receive from the taxpayer or a so-called Tobin tax on transactions.
Mr Darling said Britain would not copy US president Barack Obama's idea of a backward-looking levy to recover the costs of the banking rescue, but said he was still pressing for more permanent measures to protect against a future crisis.