Westcountryman

A group of key EU finance ministers will today launch an assault on the rewards earned by bankers and top managers in a move that poses a potential threat to the City of London.

A confidential document prepared for the gathering in Brussels finds the "short-term" pay structure of modern capitalism has become deformed, causing firms to take on "excessive risk" without regard to the interests of stakeholders or society.

While there is no concrete legislation on the table, ministers are eyeing curbs on stock options, bonuses and golden parachutes.

The move is a clear sign that the EU noose is tightening on bankers, funds and corporate elites that have enjoyed light-touch regulation.

Today's meeting is being held under the auspices of the Eurogroup, the quasi-official club of eurozone finance ministers. The forum excludes Britain and free market allies from Eastern Europe.

Shutting out Chancellor Alistair Darling enables Berlin and Paris to create a head of steam behind possible legislation that could undermine London's competitiveness as the world's leading financial centre.

The text for the meeting - leaked to Spanish newspaper El Pais - indicts the Anglo-Saxon market model as a danger to global financial stability and castigates firms for chasing "immediate profits at the cost of massive sackings".

The loose plans are part of a slew of proposals floated in Europe over recent months aimed at disciplining the market. Ideas have included a pan-European regulator, curbs on private equity and restraints on sovereign wealth funds. None has yet crystalised into a draft EU directive.

EU governments are paying close attention to a law going to the Dutch parliament this month. It imposes a 30pc supertax on pay packages above €500,000 (£398,000) and limits bonuses and stock options to 100pc of pay - far below the windfalls made by UK-based traders and bankers at the height of the credit bubble.

Ruth Lea, director of Global Vision, said critics of the City have seized on the credit crisis and Britain's current travails to ram through changes that extend EU power over economic policy.

"Brussels has been waiting for this moment. It is typical that they should hold the meeting in the Eurogroup so they can lay out all the groundwork in advance. It is the classic thin-end-of-the-wedge method. None of these new proposals is going to help Europe: they will simply drive business to Hong Kong, Singapore and the States," she said.

The EU impetus is coming from both Left and Right. Germany's Christian Democrat Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has called for a crackdown on the "fat cat" abuses after Porsche chief Wendelin Wiedeking pocketed €60m last year.

Mrs Merkel's Socialist partners (SPD) want a €1m cap on pay that can be deducted from corporate tax.

Ieke Van Den Burg, MEP, the Dutch Labour leader in Brussels, said three reports are going through the European Parliament exploring curbs on hedge funds, private equity and the bonus system.

"The short-term focus of the industry has been disastrous. Private equity has left companies crushed by high debt, and people are very angry at what has happened. We want to control the levels of leverage and make sure they are forced to keep more of the risk," she said.

Mrs Van Den Burg said pay-offs at ABN Amro following the takeover by the Royal Bank of Scotland had caused a storm in Holland. They were a key factor leading to the country's new legislation.

Source: EU to launch assault on bankers' bonuses - Telegraph

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Ea of Dune

I don't know why the EU has got a bee in it's bonnet over a few thousand bankers who make big money, when the scum that inhabits the Euro parliament are pocketing millions at the expense of the normal bloke in the street in the EU.

Companies should be able to re-numerate their employees at any rate they see fit, without interference from politicians. The state should only step in when these institutions break the law, if that means banks have been illegally decietful in the packages they have sold members of the public, then fine prosecute them, if bankers go rogue and do a Nick Leeson give them life in "nick" it might put off some of the greedier types from ripping people off.
At the end of the day though if somebody earns a good bonus, good on em it's none of socialists in Frances bloody business.

Ea of dune

steve fowler

Well this is the EU we are talking about here.

They wont be happy until all free thinking and freedoms are under THEIR! control.

They are just a bunch of fascist control freaks who dont like the normal hard working people to have freedom anymore.

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RULE BRITANNIA BRITANNIA RULES THE WAVES, BRITONS NEVER EVER SHALL BE SLAVE'S.

Never give in - never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
Winston Churchill.

When Labour won the 1997 General Election, Enoch Powell told his wife that the electorate had voted to break up the United Kingdom.

Ea of Dune

On the up side of this, maybe some of the Eurosceptic parties will get a big financial boost. From my experience of working in the City/Docklands a lot of people won't take this lying down.
A lot of people are politically apathetic until it's their turn to get a kick in the ****, then they wake up. The positive side of this is that the people the EU are kicking are loaded and have the ability to fight back unlike Joe Bloggs getting arrested over his bin being over full.

Let's hope Frau Merkin and her French buddies have bitten off more schnitzel then they can chew

Ea of dune

steve fowler

Good point there!, I wonder if little reminder of we london bankers gave funds to free you French and Germans in WW2 i wonder??.

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RULE BRITANNIA BRITANNIA RULES THE WAVES, BRITONS NEVER EVER SHALL BE SLAVE'S.

Never give in - never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.
Winston Churchill.

When Labour won the 1997 General Election, Enoch Powell told his wife that the electorate had voted to break up the United Kingdom.

John Connor

........
Amen.

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tito

That is repulsive. Damn I wish these businesses and bankers had a spine; for example. If I was Bill Gates and the EU were sodomising my business like they do to Microsoft, I would say

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Ea of Dune

BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Brown to set out future programme

Apparently "Brown" is going to be possibly reforming the banking sector:

What he mans is forcing through the EU legislation discussed in the Telegraph on which Britain was not consulted, and then pass it off as a good thing by NuLab.

What a bunch of odious creeps they all are.

Ea of dune

gremlin in the works

What a bunch of odious creeps they all are.

Ea of dune[/quote]

i agree and could of not said it batter my self

mkpdavies

That's the final nail in Britain right there. Once Business starts losing all its best talent abroad and get told what they can do too much, London will then lose its status as a place to do business.

Get out. Get out now.

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