FSA supports global tax on financial transactions!
LONDON, England - August 27, 2009 - The head of Britain’s top banking watchdog supports the idea of new global taxes on financial transactions, warning that a swollen financial sector paying excessive salaries has grown too big for society.
Adair Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, says the debate on bankers’ bonuses has become a “populist diversion” and that more drastic measures may be needed to cut the financial sector down to size.
He also says the FSA should “be very, very wary of seeing the competitiveness of London as a major aim”, claiming the city’s financial sector has become a destabilizing factor in the British economy.
His comments, floated in an interview in Prospect magazine published on Thursday, may be read in other financial centers, including New York, as a sign that Britain is becoming increasingly skeptical about the perceived advantages of being a leading financial center.
Lord Turner’s suggestion that a “Tobin tax” - named after the economist James Tobin - should be considered for financial transactions is also likely to reverberate around the world. The proposed tax, which has previously been championed by development economists and the French government as a means of funding the developing world, has been fiercely opposed by the finance industry.
Adair Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, says the debate on bankers’ bonuses has become a “populist diversion” and that more drastic measures may be needed to cut the financial sector down to size.
He also says the FSA should “be very, very wary of seeing the competitiveness of London as a major aim”, claiming the city’s financial sector has become a destabilizing factor in the British economy.
His comments, floated in an interview in Prospect magazine published on Thursday, may be read in other financial centers, including New York, as a sign that Britain is becoming increasingly skeptical about the perceived advantages of being a leading financial center.
Lord Turner’s suggestion that a “Tobin tax” - named after the economist James Tobin - should be considered for financial transactions is also likely to reverberate around the world. The proposed tax, which has previously been championed by development economists and the French government as a means of funding the developing world, has been fiercely opposed by the finance industry.
