May 9 (Reuters) - Germany's finance minister said a controversial plan by 11 euro zone countries to introduce a financial transaction tax was not an urgent matter and it could take a long time to be finalised. "We are just beginning this discussion. It is not a major concern to be very frank," Wolfgang Schaeuble said in response to a question about the planned tax at a conference. "This year, next year...it's not (a) major problem," he said. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/05/09/bank-tax-schaeuble-idUKL9N0DP00520130509
A rare article where it is said very well. --------------- Tobin tax to 'dry up' secondary market, academic warns Richard Comotto, an academic at the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) Centre at Reading University the supply of liquid assets to investors will dry up," he said. "Buying will become far riskier, and investors will be expected to go direct to the issuer." the "real question" was how issuers would feel comfortable with participating directly in auctions, without the intermediary of primary dealers or market makers, where there is no guidance on price because there is no secondary market suggesting where existing bonds are trading. "How will investors value their portfolio once they have bought them?" he asked. "And if they wish to get out of a particular investment â for example, because a bond is downgraded â how will they sell it? "There will be nobody there to buy it and sell it onto another investor because the taxation will have removed the intermediaries." Comotto stressed that the secondary market with market makers and primary dealers played a vital part in distributing and valuing securities. He argued that it was "really rare" for investors â even buy-and-hold investors â to hold a security all the way through to maturity. "We are reducing the ability of investors to efficiently manage their portfolios," he said. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...uIHAAQ&usg=AFQjCNGmS6V9taL5mf3X39mh9wNt4HafEw
http://delano.lu/news/ftt-be-diluted-analysts-say ------------ http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...df+&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-a Just reading this, its old but may be interesting to some.
Bank of England's King: I don't think it is likely to help very much and indeed the thing I find most striking is that here in Europe, I can't find anyone in the central banking community who thinks it's a good idea. He says this is partly because "the words FTT mean very different things to different people [...] I donât think weâre remotely close to getting any clear view on this and I can understand why politicians [have voiced scepticism]" "I can assure you there is an enormous scepticism from those who even appear to be behind it," he adds. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/.../10058026/Business-news-and-markets-live.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sir Mervyn said that there was "enormous sceptiscism even from quarters behind" the tax, and that he understood why some were not willing to be vocal in their opposition. There are concerns that many are self-censoring their concerns about the measure as it is not politically safe to oppose taxes on activities seen to relate to banking. http://www.cityam.com/live-blog
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...ing-attacks-EU-financial-transaction-tax.html ...[BoE Governor King] hinted that Europe would use delaying tactics to kick the FTT into the long grass. âI think you will see over the next month some considerable debate which will end up with more reflection being taken before designing anything in this area,â he said. âI donât think we are remotely close to getting a clear view on any of this.â