Globe and Mail: Harper signals G20 battle over bank levy

As Stephen Harper and the newly elected British prime minister will battle over this issue at G20, I’ve investigated into Bank Levies:

Bank levies in this case means that there is a bank tax that is used to build a reserve fund that could bail out financial institutions, which would alleviate tax payers.

For those countries that bailed out banks, Britain, US, Germany and France are supportive of the G20-wide levy. Countries that did not bail out banks, India, China, Brazil, Russia, and Canada, are not supportive of this.

Probably what G20 is not referring to (another bank levy definition):

Simply, bank levies occur when a creditor coerces a debtor to repay a debt. With the creditor’s request, the debtor’s bank account is frozen and money seized until the debt is paid off. Frozen means cheques will bounce, withdrawals cannot be made and banks may charge a penalty to the customer for levied accounts.