**UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for a new “social contract” with the world’s banks to make them more responsible to society.**Mr Brown told a G20 meeting in Scotland it was not acceptable that banking success was reaped by the few but failure was “borne by all of us”.
He called for a fund for future bank bailouts to be set up, possibly paid for by a tax on transactions.
He also said it was “essential” there was progress on funding climate change.
Mr Brown told the meeting of G20 finance ministers in St Andrews that there should be a “just distribution of risks and rewards”.
He said: “I believe we should discuss whether we need a better economic and social contract to reflect the global responsibilities of financial institutions to society.”
Mr Brown said the financial sector was so key that the taxpayer had no choice but to step in when it failed.
He added: “And it cannot be acceptable that the benefits of success in this sector are reaped by the few but the costs of its failure are borne by all of us.”