* Fin Services Minister sticks to annual bank levy target
* Says more announcements on bank pay disclosure to come
* FSA's criminal powers could still be moved to a new agency
* UK govt to look at making switching bank accounts easier
(Adds more comments)
By Huw Jones
LONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - A levy on Britain's banks will be set at a level that raises no more than 2.5 billion pounds ($3.9 billion) annually, a British government minister said on Tuesday.
"The levy will raise about 2.5 billion pounds," Mark Hoban, UK financial services minister, told parliament. He was responding to lawmakers who spoke of speculation that the levy rate imposed on banks would raise a higher sum.
It was "absolutely right" that Britain pushed ahead with introducing a levy unilaterally as this would not impact the country's competitiveness, Hoban told parliament's treasury committee.
Britain was also committed to improving disclosure in bankers' pay by implementing a report by financial industry veteran David Walker, Hoban said.
Walker said this month it would be a mistake for Britain to go it alone and introduce the tough disclosure rules recommended in his report.
Hoban said Britain backs new European Union-wide pay disclosure guidelines being introduced in January and the country will also consider extra measures.
"We will make announcements in due course," he said.
Britain's business minister Vice Cable said last week that transparency rules on bankers' pay are likely to emerge through a combination of international regulation and domestic legislation.
WHO'S IN CHARGE?
Britain is reforming supervision of its finance industry from 2012 by scrapping the Financial Services Authority and handing powers to a new Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) at the Bank of England.
There will be a new Financial Policy Committee (FPC) chaired by the Bank to spot broad risks such as too much credit, and a separate Consumer Protection and Markets Authority (CPMA).
This replaces the Bank, government and FSA working together, a system seen as having failed to spot or deal with the financial crisis effectively.
The revamp begins in shadow form next spring and work on selecting members of the FPC will be completed by the end of this year, with a first meeting shortly afterwards and minutes published, Hoban said.
He defended the 50 million pound cost of the change, saying tweaking the existing set up was not enough.
Treasury committee members said it was still unclear who will be responsible for a bank failure in future -- a central criticism of the existing framework.
"The role of the FPC is to look at system-wide risks, not make judgements on individual firms. If the firm failed in isolation then the PRA is accountable for that," Hoban said.
"There is much greater clarity of responsibility now than there was under the previous system," Hoban added.
Several lawmakers were unconvinced. "This arrangement fills me with foreboding," committee chairman Andrew Tyrie said.
Hoban rebuffed suggestions that lawmakers and government should be more closely involved, saying supervisors must act independently according to clear objectives otherwise they would become politicised and less effective.
Britain had planned to shift the FSA's criminal prosecution powers to a new economic crime agency but has backtracked.
"We need to take a bit more time to look at this. It was best to delay that decision until the new regulatory system has bedded down," Hoban said.
The FSA says its crackdown on market abuse needs a combination of criminal and civil powers to succeed.