Bank levy

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A bank levy is a tax that has been introduced for financial service providers and credit institutions . The levy is intended to impose the costs of systemic risk in lending and trading on the financial sector.

How it works in Germany

In Germany, credit institutions had to pay a fee to the restructuring fund since 2011 due to the financial crisis . The legal basis was the Restructuring Fund Act (RStruktFG) created by the Restructuring Act and the Restructuring Fund Ordinance (RStruktFV).

Since 2015, due to the resolution directive implemented in the SAG in Germany, there has been an EU-wide obligation to set up so-called resolution funds held by the resolution authorities with a corresponding tax obligation; the restructuring fund continues to assume this function in Germany.

Since the SRM Regulation came into force, the bank levy levied by the Federal Agency for FMSA has to be transferred to the European so-called single resolution fund (SRF) established at the beginning of 2016; this contribution is also called the European bank levy. All CRR credit institutions and group-owned CRR investment firms under the supervision of the ECB are required to contribute, whereby the contribution continues to be collected by the FMSA, but is then transferred to the national chamber of the SRF administered by the SRB in accordance with Section 11a RStruktFG. In 2016, contributions totaling 1.76 billion euros were collected. Details on the assessment of contributions are regulated by the SRB.

In addition to the SRF, there is still the national restructuring fund for CRR investment firms under individual supervision and domestic union branches, which Section 11a RStruktFG exempts from the transfer obligation. The amount of annual and special contributions is based on European requirements, §§ 12 ff. RStruktFG and depends on the volume of business, size and networking of the contributory institution in the financial market. Details on the assessment and collection of contributions are regulated in the Restructuring Fund Ordinance (RStruktFV).

reasons

The levy is justified on the one hand with the polluter pays principle (the financial service providers, as actors in the financial market, trigger the systemic risk), on the other hand with the burden on the (main) beneficiaries. Even a credit institution like Deutsche Bank , which does not need any support itself, benefits from the fact that it does not have to bear any costs from the insolvency of other market participants. The first argument corresponds to the principle of strict liability .

Expressions

Most of the discussion is about using the institute's total assets as the basis for assessing the tax , if necessary less equity and specific individual items. However, this approach does not take into account the different risks that the companies take and the amount of equity as a risk buffer and thus the likelihood of being in need of restructuring themselves.

It is also conceivable to treat individual groups of financial services companies differently, since the systemic risk that arises from the respective sub-markets is different. In particular, it is being discussed whether to burden larger companies more heavily. For the reasons, see: Too Big to Fail .

effect

The primary and desired effect is an additional tax revenue in the collecting state, which, depending on the concept, is fed into stability / rescue funds or is freely available to the state.

Similar to corporate taxes, a bank levy also reduces profits and can in some cases be passed on to customers via higher fees and less favorable loan rates . The extent to which this is passed on to customers depends on the intensity of competition in the respective market.

A reduction in profit, on the other hand, reduces the company's risk-bearing capacity and thus increases the systemic risk. In particular, the banks rescued from the financial crisis are faced with the problem that restructuring is made more difficult by the bank levy.

A passing on to customers in the form of higher bank charges and lending rates reduces the purchasing power and acts as a rate hike dampening effect on the economy .

Discussion and status in other countries

United States

In January 2010, US President Barack Obama proposed a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee , in German: Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee . This tax should only be paid by banks and insurance companies with total assets of more than 50 billion US dollars. The basis of assessment should be the financial company's assets minus equity and funds for bank deposit insurance or technical provisions. The tax rate of 0.15 percent is expected to apply for ten years and generate annual tax revenues of around nine billion dollars. In late June 2010, the Democrats withdrew the bill introducing the tax after it became apparent that it would not win a majority in parliament.

Austria

In Austria, the Stability Tax Act (StabAbgG) came into force on January 1, 2011, which obliges credit institutions to pay a bank tax (colloquially known as the bank tax). The unconsolidated total assets and the volume of speculative derivative transactions in the banks' trading book serve as the basis for calculating the tax liability. Institutions with total assets under 1 billion are not taxed. Between 1 billion and 20 billion the tax is 0.09%, over 20 billion 0.11%. Speculative derivatives are taxed at 0.013% regardless of the balance sheet total. The government expects annual income of 500 million euros from this tax. Among other things, it is criticized that the tax depends on the size of the bank, as well as a possible disadvantage of Austrian banks in international competition.

European Union

Since 2016, CRR credit institutions under the supervision of the ECB have had to pay a European bank levy to the Single Resolution Fund (SRF) , which is administered by the Single Resolution Board (SRB) . The European bank levy is part of the regulations for the European Banking Union .

See also

literature

  • Mario Martini : Please checkout ...! The bank levy as an answer to the financial crisis - placebo, remedy or poison? , NJW 2010, pp. 2019-2023.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ bank levy. In: Glossary of the Deutsche Bundesbank. Retrieved July 13, 2016 .
  2. ↑ a b Homepage of the German supervisory authority FMSA: Bank tax. Archived from the original on August 5, 2016 ; accessed on August 25, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b c d Homepage of the German resolution authority FMSA: Bankenabgabe. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 5, 2016 ; accessed on August 5, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Financial Times Deutschland: Europa und USA, So it is in the regulatory race ( Memento from May 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Die Welt from June 1, 2010
  6. ↑ Consolidated federal law: Entire legal provision for the Stability Tax Act, version of June 9, 2011
  7. ↑ That brings 2011: Bank levy burdens the industry with 500 million euros ( Memento from December 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive )