Discussions on the introduction of such a levy might take much time, Algimantas Rimkūnas said on Thursday after a meeting with British bankers.
“It’s a question that will definitely not be solved in one day and will not be solved in six months,” he told BNS after the meeting between Finance Minister Rimantas Šadžius, Anthony Brown, the head of the British Bankers Association, and members of the trade group, including representatives of JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Barlcays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Nationwide, and Deutche Bank.
British bankers were interested in Lithuania’s priorities in the creation of banking union, Rimkūnas said.
“Very important issues that are sensitive for the banking sector will be put on the Lithuanian Presidency table. The bankers coming here want to find out Lithuania’s presidency priorities, its approach to one or another issue, how it will seek to solve it or perhaps leave it for the next presidencies to decide, etc. The key issues, which our guests were interested in, concerned the banking union, as well as a directive for dealing with bank bailouts, which is being drawn up now. They were also interested in proposals, which are circulating in the EU area and deal with, for example, the taxation of financial transactions,” Deputy Finance Minister told BNS.
The British bankers did not seem very enthusiastic about the proposed FTT, he said.
“Needless to say, they do not seem very enthusiastic. They are trying to prove and tell that it would harm the development of the banking system, that it would undermine [the activity], that it would, let’s say, affect the competitiveness of the banks that will be taxed. The minister’s answer was clear – that the issue is not simple, that there is probably an obvious rationale for such a tax to be introduced. Yet the final decision will probably require long discussions and broad political consensus,” Rimkūnas said.
Lithuania’s stance on the FTT would depend on political consensus and on the environment at the time when Lithuania would take the Presidency over from Ireland, the official said.
Lithuania’s banking sector is relatively small, so receipts on this tax, if it were to be introduced, would be between 6 and 10 million litas (EUR 2.9m), according to Rimkūnas.
The British government said in April that it would launch a legal challenge at the European Court of Justice against the European Union’s planned financial transaction tax, which, according to the British government, would have an unfair impact on those EU Member States that do not take part in the initiative.
The proponents of the levy describe it as a fine way to make the financial sector contribute to the cost of the crisis it caused in the first place. As proposed, transactions will be taxed at 0.1 percent for shares and bonds, and at 0.01 percent for derivatives.
The European Commission (EC) claims that the FTT will raise between 30 and 35 billion euros a year.
Lithuania will take on the rotating six-month presidency of the EU Council on July 1.
