(BNC.L) Banco Santander SA Buy/Sell

By Huw Jones

ST ANDREWS, Scotland, Nov 7 (Reuters) - World governments should consider urgently a levy on banks to fund future bailouts, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Saturday, departing from London's longstanding resistance to a global tax.
France and Germany have led the way in Europe on seeking to force the financial sector to return some of the billions of public dollars ploughed into banks over a year of financial crisis.
London to date had resisted, mindful of the interests of its powerful financial services industry, which generates a large proportion of Britain's tax revenues, growth and jobs.
"We should discuss whether we need a better economic and social contract to reflect the global responsibilities of financial institutions to society," Brown told a meeting of financial policymakers from the G20 group of countries in Scotland.
"There have been proposals for an insurance fee to reflect systemic risk or a resolution fund or contingent capital arrangements or a global transaction levy," he said.
Brown's government this week forked out another 30 billion pounds on bailing out two of its biggest banks for the second time, and opinion polls all show him heading for a hammering by the opposition conservatives in next year's election.
Brown said the International Monetary Fund would review the possibility of a global transaction tax and report back in April next year -- signalling the G20 had agreed as a group to take up the matter more seriously.
"I do not in any way underestimate the enormous and difficult practical and technical issues that will need to be overcome that a globally cohesive system requires and raises.
"But I do not think these issues should prevent us from considering with urgency the legitimate issues I have discussed."
Britain has repeatedly rejected a long-standing idea for a so-called Tobin Tax on foreign exchange transactions.
G20 officials said the levy mentioned by Brown would be broader and could be on all financial transactions or bank earnings. The levy would be small, perhaps around 0.005 percent be much lower than a Tobin Tax.
Officials at the G20 meeting said a levy and the funds raised could be used not only to pay for future bank bailouts but also to fund development and other areas.
Brown said any measure would have to be global in nature and implemented by all the world's main financial centres in the United States, European Union, Asia, Middle East and Switzerland.
A levy must also not result in avoidance or reductions on capital flows, he said. It must also be "fair, measured and enable financial services to make their necessary contribution to future economic growth."
The idea of a global fund was aired this week by Deutsche Bank Chairman, Josef Ackermann, who said it would avoid "the midnight scramble for funds before the Tokyo market opens" -- referring to how bank rescues are typically put together hastily late at night in time for a reopening of trading.
But Ackermann said such as fund could be a partnership between governments and the financial sector rather than relying purely on banks.
(Editing by Patrick Graham) Keywords: G20 BROWN/TAX

(Reuters messaging: huw.jones.reuters.com@reuters.net; + 44 207 542 3326; huw.jones@thomsonreuters.com)

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Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.

By Huw Jones

ST ANDREWS, Scotland, Nov 7 (Reuters) - World governments should consider urgently a levy on banks to fund future bailouts, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Saturday, departing from London's longstanding resistance to a global tax.
France and Germany have led the way in Europe on seeking to force the financial sector to return some of the billions of public dollars ploughed into banks over a year of financial crisis.
London to date had resisted, mindful of the interests of its powerful financial services industry, which generates a large proportion of Britain's tax revenues, growth and jobs.
"We should discuss whether we need a better economic and social contract to reflect the global responsibilities of financial institutions to society," Brown told a meeting of financial policymakers from the G20 group of countries in Scotland.
"There have been proposals for an insurance fee to reflect systemic risk or a resolution fund or contingent capital arrangements or a global transaction levy," he said.
Brown's government this week forked out another 30 billion pounds on bailing out two of its biggest banks for the second time, and opinion polls all show him heading for a hammering by the opposition conservatives in next year's election.
Brown said the International Monetary Fund would review the possibility of a global transaction tax and report back in April next year -- signalling the G20 had agreed as a group to take up the matter more seriously.
"I do not in any way underestimate the enormous and difficult practical and technical issues that will need to be overcome that a globally cohesive system requires and raises.
"But I do not think these issues should prevent us from considering with urgency the legitimate issues I have discussed."
Britain has repeatedly rejected a long-standing idea for a so-called Tobin Tax on foreign exchange transactions.
G20 officials said the levy mentioned by Brown would be broader and could be on all financial transactions or bank earnings. The levy would be small, perhaps around 0.005 percent be much lower than a Tobin Tax.
Officials at the G20 meeting said a levy and the funds raised could be used not only to pay for future bank bailouts but also to fund development and other areas.
Brown said any measure would have to be global in nature and implemented by all the world's main financial centres in the United States, European Union, Asia, Middle East and Switzerland.
A levy must also not result in avoidance or reductions on capital flows, he said. It must also be "fair, measured and enable financial services to make their necessary contribution to future economic growth."
The idea of a global fund was aired this week by Deutsche Bank Chairman, Josef Ackermann, who said it would avoid "the midnight scramble for funds before the Tokyo market opens" -- referring to how bank rescues are typically put together hastily late at night in time for a reopening of trading.
But Ackermann said such as fund could be a partnership between governments and the financial sector rather than relying purely on banks.
(Editing by Patrick Graham) Keywords: G20 BROWN/TAX

(Reuters messaging: huw.jones.reuters.com@reuters.net; + 44 207 542 3326; huw.jones@thomsonreuters.com)

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Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.

ST ANDREWS, Scotland, Nov 7 (Reuters) - A tax on financial transactions to fund future bank bailouts should be considered with urgency, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Saturday, a significant departure from London's line to date.
Policymakers are looking at ways to learn from the credit crunch and avoid the need for more massive taxpayer funded bank bailouts in future.
Mindful of the interests of the City of London, Brown has defended the financial sector against more aggressive moves on regulation by other European governments in the past.
"There have been proposals for an insurance fee to reflect systemic risk or a resolution fund or contingent capital arrangements or a global transaction levy," Brown told a meeting of the G20 group of leading countries in Scotland.
He said, though, that all countries would have to act together for Britain to join in.
"I do not in any way underestimate the enormous and difficult practical and technical issues that will need to be overcome that a globally cohesive system requires and raises," Brown said.
"But I do not think these issues should prevent us from considering with urgency the legitimate issues I have discussed."
(Reporting by Huw Jones, editing by Patrick Graham) Keywords: G20 BROWN/TAX

(Reuters messaging: huw.jones.reuters.com@reuters.net; + 44 207 542 3326; huw.jones@thomsonreuters.com)

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Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.

(Adds UBS)
Nov 6 (Reuters) - The following financial services industry appointments were announced on Friday. To inform us of other job changes, e-mail moves@thomsonreuters.com.

UBS said it hired Allen Bouch and Scott Norby as managing directors within the firm's financial sponsors group. Bouch and Norby will be based in San Francisco and New York, respectively. Bouch joins UBS from Citigroup, while Norby was at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Santander Corporate Banking said it appointed Steve King as regional director for London. King joined Santander from Clydesdale Bank, where he worked for four years.

Schroders said it had hired Hardeep Dogra from Goldman Sachs to assist Clive Dennis on the recently-launched Global Managed Currency Fund.

(Compiled by Shobhana Chadha in Bangalore and Jessica Hall in Philadelphia, editing by Gerald E. McCormick) Keywords: FINANCIAL/MOVES (shobhana.chadha@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging: shobhana.chadha.reuters.com@reuters.net)

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Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.