Germany plans to use the Group of 20 leading economies' June meeting to push for the implementation of a special levy on the banking sector to help meet the costs of future financial crises, dpa quoted a senior official as saying in Berlin today. Europe's three key economies - Germany, Britain and France - have already reached broad agreement on introducing a levy on the banks, which could raise up to 1.2 billion euros (1.6 billion dollars) in Germany alone. "The German Government is seeking an agreement at the summit" in Toronto in June of the group of the world's top industrial powers and leading emerging economies, a spokesman said. As a minimum, Berlin wants the issue to be high on the agenda in Toronto with a final accord reached at the next meeting of the G20 leaders set down for November. An informal meeting of European Union finance ministers to be held later this month is expected to consider the steps for launching the levy. Germany, France and Britain are hoping to convince the US to also join the drive for introducing a bank levy during the buildup to the June summit.
