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8 February 2011
Last updated at 03:58 ET
The government says it will increase the levy on banks to £2.5bn this year - raising an extra £800m.
The tax change would usually be set out in next month's Budget.
But Chancellor George Osborne said the move would help banks know the context they were operating in before announcing their bonus payments in the next few weeks.
A deal with banks to increase loans to businesses and to limit bonus payments has not yet been finalised.
Talks on the wide-ranging Project Merlin stalled last month.
'Symbolic' Mr Osborne had originally announced that the government's new bank levy would be phased in, with a lower rate applicable in 2011.
But BBC business editor Robert Peston said the chancellor had "concluded that the banks are in better shape than he thought less than two months ago, when he announced that a smaller levy would apply in the current year".
The coalition says the levy on bank balance sheets is a better way of making sure companies make a fair contribution to tackling the deficit than extending Labour's bank bonus tax.
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The one-off tax, introduced by Alistair Darling, raised £2.3bn - after taking account of the tax reducing income tax and corporation tax receipts. This compares with £1.7bn raised by Mr Osborne's first bank levy.
However, the extra £800m being raised by the increased levy was relatively small, our business editor said, and was "probably of more importance from a symbolic point of view - perhaps indicating a touch more iciness in ministers' attitudes to the banks - rather than from a budgetary perspective".
The government has been criticised for failing to strike a deal with the banks over lending and bonuses.
However the Financial Times reported that the coalition was confident banks would provide £1.3bn over three years to parts of the UK hardest hit by spending cuts, on top of the £1.5bn Business Growth Fund which the banks announced in the autumn.
Bank bosses argue that lending targets for what might be weaker businesses could breach rules that say any decision should be in the best interest of shareholders.
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The tax change would usually be set out in next month's Budget.
But Chancellor George Osborne said the move would help banks know the context they were operating in before announcing their bonus payments in the next few weeks.
A deal with banks to increase loans to businesses and to limit bonus payments has not yet been finalised.
Talks on the wide-ranging Project Merlin stalled last month.
'Symbolic' Mr Osborne had originally announced that the government's new bank levy would be phased in, with a lower rate applicable in 2011.
But BBC business editor Robert Peston said the chancellor had "concluded that the banks are in better shape than he thought less than two months ago, when he announced that a smaller levy would apply in the current year".
The coalition says the levy on bank balance sheets is a better way of making sure companies make a fair contribution to tackling the deficit than extending Labour's bank bonus tax.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
The one-off tax, introduced by Alistair Darling, raised £2.3bn - after taking account of the tax reducing income tax and corporation tax receipts. This compares with £1.7bn raised by Mr Osborne's first bank levy.
However, the extra £800m being raised by the increased levy was relatively small, our business editor said, and was "probably of more importance from a symbolic point of view - perhaps indicating a touch more iciness in ministers' attitudes to the banks - rather than from a budgetary perspective".
The government has been criticised for failing to strike a deal with the banks over lending and bonuses.
However the Financial Times reported that the coalition was confident banks would provide £1.3bn over three years to parts of the UK hardest hit by spending cuts, on top of the £1.5bn Business Growth Fund which the banks announced in the autumn.
Bank bosses argue that lending targets for what might be weaker businesses could breach rules that say any decision should be in the best interest of shareholders.
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