Financial transaction tax would raise €10bn In his article Mr Semeta argued that while the tax could not "solve national budgetary problems" it was not "unreasonable to expect the financial sector to pay its share." The EU estimates the cost of bail-outs for the financial sector since the beginning of the crisis at €4.6 trillion, of which more than €1 trillion represents the cost to the British taxpayer of rescuing the UK's banking system. Mr Semeta's article prompted a furious response from several major financial sector trade associations, including the British Bankers' Association, which said his analysis was "flawed." The associations said they were "disappointed" that the EC had not properly addressed experts' concerns with its proposals, adding that they were troubled by the lack of a country-by-country impact assessment. Curiously, the Commission failed to conduct a country0by-country impact analysis to truly understand the impacts on each member state. The UK has the largest financial derivatives market in the world, with an average daily turnover in interest rate derivatives of just over $1.4 trillion (£889bn), equivalent to 45.8pc of the total. Prime Minister, David Cameron, and George Osborne, the Chancellor, have both publicly stated their opposition to Britain introducing an FTT. Last month, French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, announced that France would introduce an FTT from the middle of the year. Germany has also said it supports the tax.