NEXT month’s G20 meeting in Toronto will be key in establishing how the European Commission’s plans for a levy to insure against future bank failures might be implemented.

Last week saw EU internal markets commissioner Michel Barnier set out proposals on how member states will be expected to create a national fund, via a bank levy, to assist with the winding up or reorganising of failing banks in their respective countries.

But with details still thin on the ground it is still unclear how any future tax would impact Guernsey’s financial services sector.

The EU announcement also came just a month after the IMF had outlined its own plans for two global taxes to protect against future financial failures that could further destabilise the global economy. These two were a levy payable by all financial institutions, not only banks, and a tax on their profits and pay.

‘At this stage, it is very difficult to assess with any accuracy what the likely impact will be,’ said KPMG tax partner Tony Mancini (pictured).