On 4 November, the Finance Committee of the German Bundestag held a public hearing on the planned revision of the bank levy, which envisages significant changes for the financial sector and Germany as a financial centre. Frankfurt Main Finance was invited as an expert to answer questions on the effects on the attractiveness of the location.
The draft bill presented by the German government plans to transfer around EUR 2.3 billion from the national restructuring fund to the European Financial Market Stabilisation Fund (FMS). The draft also provides for an adjustment to the tax treatment of the bank levy: In future, it should be possible to deduct this as a business expense for tax purposes, as is ‘normal’ in terms of the tax system and common practice in most European countries. Until now, Germany was one of the few countries to prohibit tax deductions for the bank levy. A competitive disadvantage for the location.
Controversial discussion on tax deductibility
The question of the tax deductibility of the bank levy was nevertheless the subject of controversial debate. While the German Banking Industry (DK) was in favour of the change, Professor Lena Tonzer, University of Magdeburg, and Professor Simon Kempny, University of Bielefeld, saw a false incentive effect. They argued that the deductibility could weaken the steering effect towards lower-risk business models for banks, which could affect the stability of the banking sector in the long term.
Hubertus Väth, on the other hand, argued that a comprehensive institutional framework with a Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) has been in place since the end of 2023 — and that key milestones for a risk-adequate framework have therefore been achieved. A kind of ongoing tyre pressure measurement with emergency vehicles at short distances. The ratio of the ban on deducting operating expenses as a component of banking regulation, which was at best a stopgap measure in the crisis, should now be more than superfluous.
Repayment would be a positive signal for Germany as a financial centre
Several measures have already been taken to ensure the stability of the banking sector. The following are of particular importance:
1. the Single Resolution Fund (SRF) is fully populated.
2. the companies in the SRM must now fulfil binding final loss buffer requirements (minimum requirements in own funds and eligible liabilities, MREL).
3. the companies in the SRM have made themselves resolvable in accordance with the regulatory requirements.
The conclusion of our managing director was therefore: ‘A repayment would be a positive signal, the end of the ban on the deduction of operating expenses is a necessity for the competitiveness of the financial centre, because the German financial centre remains below its potential.’
The detailed contributions of our expert are available under the following time stamps:
35:00 to 41:27
47:50 to 52:00
1:05:00 to 1:07:00
(Conclusion) 1:28:30 to 1:30:50
The full recording of the hearing is available in the Bundestag media centre (in German only).