Autumn Statement: Bank shares fall as levy hiked

George Osborne's Autumn Statement today has revealed a further increase to the levy on bank borrowing in the UK while he ruled out plans for a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT).

The levy, the annual tax on debts held by banks, has been raised from the current 0.078% to 0.088%, effective from 1 January 2012. This is to ensure that the Treasury rasises the £2.5bn expected to raise when the bank levy was introduced at a slightly lower rate last year. Bank share prices dropped on the news. RBS shares lost 0.6% to reach 19.80p per share, Lloyds lost 2.44% to 23.11p per share and Barclays lost 0.71% to 169p per share. Osborne also ruled out plans for the controversial Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) or the Tobin tax as it is known. The tax on financial trading has ...