David Prosser: British banks seek a level playing field
Outlook: Mr Darling will have to work hard to prevent British banks becoming disadvantaged
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.And so the horse-trading begins. The foreign investment banks with a major presence in London have not yet sat down with the Chancellor to discuss whether, like their UK counterparts, they will sign up to his rules on bankers' bonuses – a summit is scheduled for this week – but they are already dropping broad hints that they may not.
What these bankers are saying privately is that they are reluctant to sign up to all the strictures to which the British banks agreed last week. Alistair Darling may yet have to read stories about a bumper round of bonuses next March, just as he tries to put the financial crisis behind him in an election campaign.
Nor do the foreign banks believe they have much to fear from Mr Darling's threat to disqualify the directors of institutions that do not fall into line. It would be difficult to see how the Chancellor's reach could be extended to Goldman Sachs in New York, say, or Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt.
The difficulty with the outcome of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh was always going to be that its agreement on bankers' bonuses would be open to interpretation during the implementation process. Britain and France is complying quickly with the letter and spirit of the agreement. We haven't yet heard much from the US on how and when they will bring in the new rules.
The City has always feared that a regulatory crackdown on UK banks could leave them at a disadvantage to rivals based in jurisdictions where the authorities prove slower to act – or act less thoroughly. Mr Darling will have to work hard this week to prevent such a disadvantage developing in the area of bankers' remuneration.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments