Ministers back away from confrontation over bank bonuses

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Ministers back away from confrontation over bank bonuses – The Guardian

Downing Street has said that the government did not intend to intervene in the pay of UK’s top bankers, according to a report in today's Guardian newspaper.

"We've made a broad statement which is about the need to see some restraint and some responsibility from the banks, but we are not going to set bonus pools for individual banks," the prime minister's spokesman said.

The government said an extension of the payroll tax on bonuses introduced by the previous Labour administration in December 2009 would be “self-defeating because bankers would become more skilled at avoiding the tax”, according to The Guardian.

>>> 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.

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Title: “Banks given go-ahead to pay unlimited bonuses”, by Patrick Wintour, Jill Treanor and Allegra Stratton, guardian.co.uk, 10 January 2011.

Availability: You can read the article online at www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jan/10/banks-unlimited-bonuses-ministers.

Other media reports

--> “The long road to bonus restraint”, Editorial, ft.com, 10 January 2011: www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bbe26f4a-1cef-11e0-8c86-00144feab49a.htm.

--> “Big bonuses to stay if banks boost lending", by Robert Winnett, telegraph.co.uk, 10 January 2011: www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/8249718/Big-bonuses-to-stay-if-banks-boost-lending.html.

--> “How George Osborne's tough words on bonuses proved to be so much hot air”, by Larry Elliott and Jill Treanor, guardian.co.uk, 10 January 2011: www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jan/10/george-osborne-bonuses-fat-cats.