News

Britain called on Saturday for consideration of a tax on financial transactions to insure against another crisis and urged world finance officials meeting in Scotland to agree on bearing the cost of fighting climate change.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told finance ministers from the Group of 20 rich and developing it was time to consider a form of global financial levy such as an insurance fee on transactions or contingent capital arrangements.

Brown, the meeting''s host, said it was time to "discuss whether we need a better economic and social contract to reflect the global responsibilities of financial institutions to society."

"There have been proposals for an insurance fee, or a resolution fund, or contingent capital arrangements or a global financial transactions levy," Brown said.

But he said Britain would not act alone, and that any measures must be implemented by all major financial centres and should reinforce existing measures to enhance the stability of the international financial system.

The meeting in the university and golfing town of Saint Andrews in northeast Scotland is Britain''s last as host, and Britain has used it to advance issues it views as critical to future world economic growth.

Brown''s comments bolster earlier calls from former German Finance Minister Peer Steinbruck for a global tax on all cross-border financial transactions.

Critics argue that measures such as the so-called Tobin tax - a flat tax on currency transactions named after the Nobel Prize laureate James Tobin - can dry up world liquidity.

Supporters suggest they could protect countries from spillovers of financial crises and possibly assist poorer countries in the battle against climate change - another issue being pushed by Britain at the gathering in Scotland.

Treasury chief Alistair Darling urged the officials to reach an agreement on bearing the cost of fighting climate change before a United Nations summit in Copenhagen on global warming next month.

Darling said officials need to agree on a finance package to help poorer nations develop green industries and adapt to climate change.

The push to put the climate agreement on the agenda here reflects concern that nations will fail to agree on December 6 on a successor to the Kyoto treaty limiting carbon emissions.

The G-20 represents around 90 percent of the world''s wealth, 80 percent of world trade, and two-thirds of the world''s population.

The G-20 is comprised of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United States and the rotating European Union presidency.