Bank tax push at an end

A six-year push to impose a tax on financial transactions in the EU may have run its course, with Germany and France hesitating as they prepare for Brexit and a redrawing of the financial map.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said this month Brexit could bring “thousands of jobs to Paris,” an opportunity that could be lost if the tax were imposed.

His German counterpart, Wolfgang Schäuble, said that “quite a bit speaks in favour of the French argument to look first at how the Brexit negotiations are going”. With the heavyweight boosters among the 10 countries pursuing the tax getting cold feet, the plan’s future looks bleak.