Posted on 02/06/2010 9:34:49 PM PST by Daralundy
IQALUIT, Nunavut - The Group of Seven finance ministers emerged from a two-day meeting in the Far North saying they are determined to make financial institutions bear the cost of crises they cause.
The G7 ministers also expressed confidence a global economic recovery is underway, although they cautioned it was still too fragile for governments to start withdrawing stimulus spending.
The meeting in Nunavut's remote capital was unusual in that it did not produce a formal communique.
And for its locale - a treeless landscape about 300 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle that offered none of the accoutrements the dignitaries from the world's richest capitals have come to expect.
Instead, it offered other forms of pleasure, such as dog-sled runs over frozen Frobisher Bay, which Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said had given the participants a chance to bond.
The informal setting appeared to have smoothed over differences about the individual approaches some countries are taking on bank reform.
Britain has placed an onerous tax on banker bonuses and the United States has proposed regulations, including a ban on bankers using their own assets to trade, a measure others see as unnecessary.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was adamant his country is not going it alone, and remains committed to the international plan to raise capital requirements for banks by the end of the year. He said his own country's add-on regulations were compatible with the Group of 20 process.
"These common standards are going to have to be complemented by slightly different approaches at the national level," he said.
"What you saw today ... was a strong commitment together to put in place the kind of strong reforms that would prevent these kinds of crises from happening again."
(Excerpt) Read more at home.mytelus.com ...
I would rather see the gummits butt out of things, like overly hyped homeowning incentives, that pump banking disasters.
If they stayed away from the banks in the first place and let the normal course of business take place we wouldn’t be in this place.
Thanks to people like Clinton, Frank and Obama we got screwed and they make it even worse every time they stick their noses in.
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