Banking Backlash

British filmmaker Richard Curtis, of Love Actually fame, is plotti ng a new twist in the financial fallout tale: Act 1 – banks cause crisis, Act 2 - taxpayers bail out banks; Act 3 – banks compensate society. The idea is that if a levy of 0.05 percent is placed on bank transactions – billions of dollars would be raised to improve the community as well as to tackle poverty and climate change. Known as The “Robin Hood Tax” and backed by celebrities and a powerful coalition of not-for-profit organisations , the idea is gaining momentum. Campaigners are asking supporters of the tax (“bands of Merry ( Wo )men ”) to don green Robin Hood masks on their Twitter and Facebook profiles and to upload images to Flickr . Curtis’ short film starring Billy Nighy as a banking executive has already received 286,342 hits on YouTube.

Meanwhile American bankers are frantically seeking to overhaul their image. A series of initiatives is being undertaken at Goldman Sachs to counter public outrage over big bonuses on Wall Street. Goldman in October said the firm itself would donate $200 million to its foundation, nearly doubling its size. It also created a $500 million fund to lend to small businesses and it scaled back planned bonuses to executives. The latest initiative being discussed is believed to involve the imposition of a compulsory “charity levy” on salaries and bonuses.