Gordon Brown, Britain's prime minister, said yesterday the world's leading economies were close to agreeing a global bank tax, amid hopes in Downing St that a deal can be concluded at the G20 summit in Canada in June.
Mr Brown believes opinion has shifted decisively in favour of a worldwide tax after President Barack Obama's move last month to raise $90bn from a US bank levy. A global tax could cost the financial services sector tens of billions of pounds a year.
The British prime minister has strongly advocated some kind of charge on banks. “I'm interested in the way support is building up for international action,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times.