FSA chairman oversteps the mark
Lord Turner, the chairman of the FSA, has today angered the city with a suggestion that a new tax should be introduced on all financial transactions, aimed specifically at banks and financial institutions trading in the UK. While there has been some nervous backtracking since the comments were released to the press, the UK financial sector, UK government and the UK regulator are further apart than ever before in the fight to bring the UK economy out of recession.
Even though the city and Lord Turner have had something of a difficult relationship since he began his tenure ship as chairman, nobody quite expected today's comments which included describing the financial sector as "socially useless" in many cases. While there is no doubt that the UK financial sector is very strong and plays a prominent part in the UK economy the sector also delivers significant income to not only the UK Treasury but various charities around the world.
Many now believe that Lord Turner's position at the FSA is now untenable because ultimately it is not in his brief to suggest new taxes, no matter how strongly he feels on the situation. While the UK government has tried to distance itself from Lord Turner's comments there is a feeling that there has been some collusion below the surface.
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