Geithner: G-20 unlikely to endorse bank tax

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday said the G-20 is not likely to endorse a global tax on banks when the group meets in South Korea later this week to shore up global recovery efforts that have been shakened by the economic crisis in Europe.

"There's not universal suppport for that [tax] across the G-20, at least at this stage," Geithner told reporters. "And I don't think that is going to change in Korea."

A global tax on banks has been suggested as a way for lending institutions to repay governmental bailouts, but some of the developing G-20 countries oppose the idea since their banks did not receive bailout money.

Geithner said meetings this week will be a precursor to summits in Toronto later this month and in Seoul in November.

"You should look at the meeting ahead as preparatory for those meetings," he said.

The summits in Toronto and Seoul are expected to focus on accelerating financial reform. Geithner mentioned three areas of particular importance to the G-20: fuller transparency and disclosure, creating a framework for the derivatives market, and establishing capital requirements that make lending institutions less vulnerable to debt.

Geithner said there is broad agreement among the G-20 ministers for finanical reform, but stressed that each country would take its own path in getting there.