The German government plans to introduce a levy on banks to ensure that they pay for the costs of any future crises.
Volker Kauder, the parliamentary leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc, told ZDF television Monday that her governing coalition has agreed in principle on the plan.
Kauder said coalition leaders agreed that “banks cannot in future gamble at the taxpayer’s expense” and that “provisions must be made so that they – if it gets difficult – pay for things themselves.”
Kauder gave no details on the size of the resulting fund but said it would run into the billions of euros.
He said banks that pose a “higher systemic risk,” for example with their own trading operations, would be asked to pay more than others.