Investors in Germany could be forced to pay as much as €15bn ($19.4bn) in new trading fees if the country's finance minister presses ahead with plans to impose a tax on share trades.

Peer Steinbrück, finance minister and vice-chief of the Social Democratic Party, wants to introduce a 0.5% stamp duty on trades as part of his election manifesto, in an effort to limit the "speculation that caused the financial crisis," according to Rheinische Post, a local newspaper.