German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Germany and the United Kingdom will work together to propose a bank levy to the Group of 20 leading economies to cover the cost of future bank bailouts.
The comments were made to the press following conversations with U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Merkel said Thursday that she and Brown intend to coordinate within the European Union to present a solution that would be viable worldwide and allow banks to cover their own risks in times of crisis instead of falling back on taxpayers' money.
This follows a proposal approved by the German cabinet on Wednesday that would create an annual levy on bank balance sheets, excluding customers' deposits, that could generate up to 1.2 billion euros ($1.6 billion) annually. The cabinet meeting was attended by French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, who commented at the time that France will reveal its own plan "very soon."
