Leasing subsidiaries of UK
banks are likely to find the government’s new levy a nuisance, but
not a significant burden on their business.

At 0.04% of a bank’s total
balance sheet, the levy is expected to generate £1.1bn (€1.2bn) for
the exchequer in 2011. This will rise to 0.07%, or about £2.3bn, in
2012-13.

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A spokesman for Barclays
said: “We welcome the government’s efforts to ensure that the bank
levy is implemented in a way that allows banks to continue to
support economic growth.”

The levy will apply to all UK
banks and to the UK operations of more than 200 overseas
banks.

The British Bankers’
Association (BBA) said UK banks were committed to meeting higher
demands on the exchequer.

A BBA spokesperson said: “We
will work with the treasury to ensure the final levy also meets the
aim of maintaining the UK’s position as the world’s financial
centre while generating additional tax revenues.”

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The trade body raised
questions on how the levy would interact with taxation in other
countries.

“Until this is clearer, some
banks could be taxed multiple times by multiple jurisdictions on
the same activities. There is also no international consensus on
how banking activities should be taxed: the G20 members still hold
very different views,” the spokesperson said.

Chancellor George Osborne
said he aimed to extract the maximum sustainable tax revenues from
financial services.

“We neither want to let banks
off making their fair contribution, nor do we want to drive them
abroad,” he said.

The original proposal for the
bank levy has been amended after the government listened to
responses from 48 interested parties.

The new levy on banks will be included in the Finance Bill
2011.