IMF: Put levy on ‘too big to fail’ banks

Top banks in the eurozone benefited from an implicit taxpayer subsidy of €65bn-€220bn in 2012 due to ongoing state support which makes them “too important to fail,” the International Monetary Fund said yesterday.

Subsidies in the UK and Japan may have been as high as $110bn (€80bn) in the period of 2011-12, while they ranged from $20bn-$70bn in the US, the IMF said in its latest Global Financial Stability Report.

It recommended having banks pay a levy based on the size of their liabilities in the report.