British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged finance ministers from the world"s 20 leading economies meeting today to consider imposing a tax on financial transactions to help head off future global economic crises, according to dpa. "It cannot be acceptable that the benefits of success in this sector are reaped by the few, but the costs of its failure are borne by all of us," Brown told a meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers in the Scottish golf resort of St Andrews. He comments drew the spotlight away from the other items on the meeting"s agenda, including moves to bolster the tentative recovery underway in the world economy and climate change. But the British leader told the G20 financial officials that a new social contract was needed between the public and the banks, which have come under fire for their role in helping to trigger the financial crisis that engulfed the world economy since 2007. "There have been proposals for an insurance fee to reflect systemic risk or a resolution fund or contingent capital arrangements or a global transaction levy," said Brown who faces a tough national election next year. But he insisted that, to be effective, such a tax would have to be introduced on a worldwide basis. "I do not in any way underestimate the enormous and difficult practical and technical issues that will need to be overcome that a globally cohesive system requires and raises," he said. "But I do not think these issues should prevent us from considering with urgency the legitimate issues I have discussed," he said.
