The banks should pay their fair share

Western Daily Press, 5th November 2024, p. 17

Jeremy Comerford (Letters, October 31) says the Bank of England can "coordinate all the relevant banks and financial institutions". He suggests they could use this power to force these institutions to write off the debt, in this instance, of ex Commonwealth countries to compensate for slavery.

This would no doubt provide a very welcome one-off financial windfall and could “provide for favourable trade and economic development”, which will, no doubt, have benefits, but I have what I think is a much better proposal, with a much more worthwhile cause, that would mean leveraging our UK permanent status of the UN General Assembly to put forward a motion to get the Bank for International Settlement (BiS) to agree to collect 0.001% of every financial transaction it records. This motion would need a two-thirds majority of UN members to be ratified.

The BIS accounts for 95% of global GDP, comprising 63 national banks that includes the US Federal Reserve, the UK Bank of England, the Deutsche Bundesbank, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority etc etc. It is located in Basle, Switzerland.

The world economy is worth $110 trillion, 0.001% of which would mean each country receiving, on average, $110 billion annually to spend on worthy causes. Money could be shared out equitably between nations by factoring in slave reparations, poverty relief, environmental protection… – whatever were deemed to be most suitable.

I entirely agree that it is the turn of the banks to shoulder responsibility, not us, the tax payers (who, infamously, bailed out the banks in 2008/09). Let’s use our power as tax-payers to lobby our UK Government to exercise its privileged position at the UN to propose that the banks pay their fair share.

Marcus Blackett

Stroud, Gloucestershire

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