Post date: May 11, 2013 4:10:47 PM
Top finance officials from the Group of Seven (G7) economies meeting in the UK discuss ways to nurture the global economic recovery and push ahead with financial reform.
AYLESBURY, SOUTHERN ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (MAY 11, 2013) (UK POOL) - Group of Seven finance officials meeting at a country house just outsideLondon agreed on Saturday (May 11) to press on with measures to deal with failing banks that do not land taxpayers with the bill, British finance minister George Osborne said in a news conference.
The emergency rescue of Cyprus in March acted as a reminder of the need to finish an overhaul of the banking sector, five years after the world financial crisis began."In today's discussions we moved on to the policy priorities where we believed a discussion at the G7 was most important. Nowhere is that more so than on banking, with the G7 accounting for more than three quarters of the world's globally systemic banks. So we reaffirmed our commitment to the faithful implementation of the G20 agenda for financial regulation. It is important to complete swiftly our work to ensure no banks are too big to fail. We must put regimes in place in each of our jurisdictions to deal with failing banks and to protect taxpayers and to do so in a globally consistent manner," Osborne told journalists.
He also said finance ministers and central bankers reaffirmed that fiscal and monetary policy should be aimed at domestic concerns.
"We also agreed on the need for structural reforms to boost competitiveness and growth, including new trade agreements and measures to raise employment. And finally we discussed the need to ensure that international tax rules are fit for the modern global economy. For Britain, I am committed to a competitive tax system that promotes growth but I'm also determined that tax that is owed must be paid. And that is why we have made this a priority for our parallel presidency of the G8 and today we all agreed on the importance of collective action to tackle tax avoidance and evasion," he said at the news conference which was being held at a 17th-century Hartwell House, close to the town of Aylesbury in southern England.
Several officials from visiting delegations questioned why Britain had called the meeting so soon after the IMF discussions in Washington but Bank GovernorMervyn King said the informal nature of the discussions had paid dividends.
"The informal nature of these meetings this weekend has proved a remarkable success. Somehow freed from the burden to agree a communiqué, the principles engaged more with each other than I can recall before and as a result genuinely made real progress in taking forward some of the questions and issues facing the G7.. This is my 25th G7 as governor and almost 50 over-all and I can't recall another G7 meeting where the atmosphere was one of genuine exchange of views, freed from the burden of having to say something in public and reading out the defensive note that had been provided in the pack. And people really engaging and as a result - and it is perhaps surprising but I saw it today - as a result, making real progress in taking forward the arguments," said King, who is stepping down from his role as Central Bank governor in July.
He has held the role since 2003.
The G7 member countries are the United States, Germany, Japan, Britain, Italy,France and Canada.