LONDON (AP) — Britain will host a meeting of finance officials from the Group of Seven nations on January 25 to discuss measures to protect the public from future bank failures, including a proposed global insurance levy, the Treasury said yesterday.

The meeting of senior G-7 civil servants, representatives from the International Monetary Fund and the Financial Stability Board, will feed into an IMF report due out in April, a Treasury spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity.

The officials will also discuss the use of contingent capital, the holding of debt instruments by banks that could be converted quickly into equity in times of stress.

Britain's Financial Services Minister Paul Myners, who will host the meeting, said he wanted to promote a global debate about a US-style insurance levy as part of a wider dicussion about protecting taxpayers.

"We are looking at a very broad range of principles because these are areas where we have to work as part of an international co-ordinated response," Myners told BBC radio. "Because we do not want to disadvantage the UK in an industry — banking and financial services — in which we have global leadership."