Top European Union officials have agreed to slap a strict limit on bankers' bonuses, which have been blamed for encouraging the risk-taking behaviour that triggered the financial crisis.
The move is part of a broad package of financial laws that includes requiring banks to hold more capital reserves in an effort to shield taxpayers from having to pay for more expensive bailouts.
Bankers' bonuses will be limited at a maximum of one year's base salary and will only be allowed to reach twice the fixed pay if a large majority of a bank's shareholders agrees, Othmar Karas, the European Parliament's chief negotiator, said Thursday.
Read more: Europe caps bank bonuses at double annual salary - Business - CBC New
Showing posts with label Bonuses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bonuses. Show all posts
2/19/13
As Europe Moves to Cap Bonuses, Britain Hesitates - by Harvey Morris
It is hard to imagine any European politician losing votes these days by promising to curb bankers’ pay, which may explain why members of the European Parliament are enthusiastically pushing for the toughest restrictions on bank bonuses since the 2008 financial crisis.
Representatives of the Parliament and of the 27 European Union governments were meeting on Tuesday to finalize a deal on banking law that would include pegging bankers’ bonuses at no more than their annual salaries.
The Parliament’s demands for a bonus cap reflect public outrage at continued revelations of huge payouts to bankers. But a side effect has been to hold up enactment of global banking regulations designed to strengthen the capacity of banks to withstand a future crisis.
A majority of member states have come around to supporting the bonus cap. Germany, a late convert to the idea, is prepared to compromise on the issue in order to ensure the wider banking changes are adopted by the elected European Parliament.
The debate has left the British government out on a limb, as it fights a possibly doomed rearguard action to protect the interests of the City of London, Europe’s biggest financial center.
Read more: As Europe Moves to Cap Bonuses, Britain Hesitates - NYTimes.com
Representatives of the Parliament and of the 27 European Union governments were meeting on Tuesday to finalize a deal on banking law that would include pegging bankers’ bonuses at no more than their annual salaries.
The Parliament’s demands for a bonus cap reflect public outrage at continued revelations of huge payouts to bankers. But a side effect has been to hold up enactment of global banking regulations designed to strengthen the capacity of banks to withstand a future crisis.
A majority of member states have come around to supporting the bonus cap. Germany, a late convert to the idea, is prepared to compromise on the issue in order to ensure the wider banking changes are adopted by the elected European Parliament.
The debate has left the British government out on a limb, as it fights a possibly doomed rearguard action to protect the interests of the City of London, Europe’s biggest financial center.
Read more: As Europe Moves to Cap Bonuses, Britain Hesitates - NYTimes.com
3/24/11
Banking Industry: Dutch Lawmakers Want Bonuses at ABN Amro, ING, Aegon Taxed = by Jurjen van de Pol
Dutch lawmakers asked Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager to tax bonuses at banks and insurers that received state aid, saying he didn’t do enough to curb bonuses in the financial industry. “Parliament requests that the government apply a onetime tax on all financial bonuses paid since 2008 at ABN Amro, ASR Verzekeringen, ING, SNS Reaal and Aegon at a rate of 100 percent,”
Freedom Party lawmaker Roland van Vliet wrote in a non-binding motion approved by a majority in the lower house of parliament in the Hague today
For more: Dutch Lawmakers Want Bonuses at ABN Amro, ING, Aegon Taxed - Businessweek
Freedom Party lawmaker Roland van Vliet wrote in a non-binding motion approved by a majority in the lower house of parliament in the Hague today
For more: Dutch Lawmakers Want Bonuses at ABN Amro, ING, Aegon Taxed - Businessweek
8/4/09
US Financial Sector - Bank of America alledged to have made misleading statements on bonuses pays 33 million to settle dispute
EU-Digest
US Financial Sector: Bank of America alledged to have made misleading statements on bonuses pays 33 million to settle dispute
The US Securities and Exchange Commission said that the Bank of America has agreed to pay $33m to settle charges that it made misleading statements about bonuses when it took over Merrill Lynch. The SEC said however, that "the bank of America had neither admitted nor denied the allegations".
7/31/09
M&C: Banking Industry - US banks still paid huge bonuses while getting government money
"Business as usual"
For the complete report from Monsters and Critics click on this link
US banks still paid huge bonuses while getting government money
Several banks that received US government assistance paid out billions of dollars in bonuses of 1 million dollar or more per employee, according to a report released Thursday by the New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
Cuomo's office said that even after the sub-prime mortgage crisis started emerging in 2007 and declined into the worst recession since the 1930s, 'compensation and benefits stayed at bull-market levels even though bank performance plummeted.' Two of the first recipients of US government assistance, Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, which suffered losses of more than 27 billion dollars each in 2008, paid out more than 5.3 billion dollars and 3.6 billion dollars respectively, the Cuomo report said.
Even though the payment of these huge bonuses has provoked public outrage among taxpayers angry over the frivolous expenditure of taxpayers' money, not much has been done by the US Government to correct these practices. In Europe some EU member states did put legislation on the books to stop these activities, but overall the result there to curb these activities have also been unsatisfactory.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)