Banks told to curb bonuses - Cable

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Banks told to curb bonuses - Cable

Banks could face new taxes if they failed to restrain bonuses, Vince Cable has told the BBC. The business secretary told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show on 19 December 2010: "I think it's fair to say that the bankers do understand the seriousness of the problem."

Cable added: "We can't go through the winter series of bonuses without real restraint and social responsibility."

Pressed on what action the government could take, he said: "If they don't behave, if they don't take account of their wider responsibilities the government has, as a possibility, some form of taxation, various ways of doing this.”

>>> A detailed analysis summarising the current position in the ongoing development of the new global regulatory framework for remuneration in financial service firms will be published next month in e-reward’s paid-for subscription series, e-research.

Want to know more

You can watch Andrew Marr’s interview with Vince Cable on the BBC web site at www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12031753.

--> Coalition ministers stepped up their rhetoric on bonuses last week, with both David Cameron and Nick Clegg urging restraint over the level of bonuses due to be paid out in the new-year bonus round. See for example “Clegg warns banks over bonuses”, by George Parker and Patrick Jenkins, ft.com, 16 December 2010: www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a1c11cbe-0954-11e0-ada6-00144feabdc0.html.