NAPF comment on financial tax legal opinion

Commenting on the legal opinion prepared for the European council on the financial transaction tax, Joanne Segars, Chief Executive of the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF), said:

“This legal opinion is highly embarrassing for the EC and we hope it will sound the death knell for the financial transaction tax.

“The FTT would hurt savers not bankers and would hike costs for many employers struggling with a weak economy while trying to provide a good pension. It would increase the cost of investments, which means lower pensions or higher contributions. That is why the NAPF has long argued that the FTT is not the way to encourage long-term responsible investment.”

Notes to editors:

1. The NAPF is the leading voice of workplace pensions in the UK. We speak for 1,300 pension schemes with some 16 million members and assets of around £900 billion. NAPF members also include over 400 businesses providing essential services to the pensions sector.

Contacts:

Dee Sullivan, Head of Media and PR (interim), 020 7601 1717 or 07917 506 683, [email protected]

Aimee Savage Richards, Press Officer (interim), 020 7601 1718 or 07825 171 446, [email protected]