Britain's banks urge govt to phase out industry levy

London

BRITAIN'S banks have called upon the government to phase out the bank levy, saying that it is damaging the competitiveness of the industry and causing them to lose business to overseas rivals.

The levy was initially introduced in 2011 not only to raise money but also to discourage banks from risky borrowing, replacing a previous one-off tax on bankers' bonuses by the Labour government following the 2007-9 financial crisis.