Banks reject finance tax proposal
Banks operating in the European Union dismissed a Franco-German proposal for a tax on financial transactions, saying it would not stabilise markets and could serve to distort them.
The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), which represents top banks, also said a tax would simply bump up costs for a large section of European industry and hit growth.
Shares in stock exchange operators took a knock after French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel unveiled a plan on Tuesday to tax financial transactions.
The pair did not detail how such a tax would work.
That did not stop Austria, Italy and Spain all signalling that they too would support the idea.