15 March 2010 / REUTERS, BERLIN
Germany is working on various possible schemes, including bank charges, to ensure taxpayers do not have to pay for the risks taken by banks in the future, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a German weekly magazine.
“It is clear to all that the taxpayer cannot pay for the risks taken by banks,” Merkel said in excerpts of an interview to be released on Sunday in Sonntag Aktuell magazine. “We are currently working on models to draw the necessary lessons from the crisis. One of these would be a charge depending on the riskiness of a banks’ business and the level of its integration [in the banking system].”
A senior ally of Merkel called last week for banks to pay the government a charge which could amount to 0.1 percent of a bank’s assets to partly cover the costs of funding bailouts. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told Reuters last month he was optimistic an international deal could be reached for banks to share economic crisis costs. “Banks have to contribute to a solution themselves,” Merkel said.
