US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that while the world’s major economies disagree over taxing banks to pay for future bailouts, the differences are narrowing in other areas of financial reform.
Geithner said on Wednesday he did not think the G20 would reach agreement at upcoming meetings in South Korea over the question of imposing a new tax on banks.
However, he said differences were narrowing in other areas, including how to stiffen standards on how much capital banks need to protect against a future financial crisis.
“We want to accelerate progress on a global agreement on core reforms,” Geithner told reporters at a briefing before he left for talks on today and tomorrow in Busan, South Korea.
The discussion among finance ministers and central bank governors will be to develop the agenda for US President Barack Obama and other G20 leaders when they meet on June 26-27 in Toronto.
Geithner told reporters that he expected the discussion in South Korea would focus on a review of efforts to promote a sustained rebound, a discussion that has taken on a sense of urgency with the European debt crisis and on narrowing differences in the area of financial regulatory reform.
On the issue of financial reform, Geithner said the US was setting a good example for the rest of the world by getting sweeping reform proposals through both the House and Senate.
Leaders in both chambers have predicted they will have a final bill on Obama’s desk by July 4.
Geithner said he would stress during the weekend talks the need to improve transparency, promote better regulations for derivatives and boost standards for capital or the reserve banks use to protect against bad loans.
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