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Gordon Brown outlined fresh curbs on City bonuses today as he claimed some banks were still behaving "reprehensibly" despite the credit crunch.
In an effort to present a united EU front ahead of this month's G20 summit in Pittsburgh, the Prime Minister joined Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel to demand that payments should be limited to a proportion of banks' profits.
The British, French and German leaders signed a letter setting out plans to allow banks to "claw back" bonuses if their business was hit by unsustainable deals over the long term.
Mr Brown described his proposals as it emerged that Chancellor Alistair Darling will tomorrow put forward his own plan to pay top earners' bonuses over five years, with a significant proportion in non-cash rewards such as shares.
But Britain has stopped short of backing a French plan for a universal cap on bonuses, an idea the Treasury thinks would be evaded by salary increases.
The Prime Minister, who receives £192,250, today told a group of trainee DJs interviewing him for the BBC: "I'd be prepared to take a pay cut. I am not in this job for the money."
Asked if he would sacrifice some salary to help others get through the recession, he said: "If there was an agreement that we could all do I would be very much part of that."
Mr Brown said he was willing to "explore" an idea to link bonuses to "revenues and/or profits".
The three leaders made clear they were worried that in the wake of state bailouts, some banks were returning to "business as usual".
They wrote: "Our citizens are deeply shocked at the revival of reprehensible practices, despite taxpayers' money having been mobilised to support the financial sector at the height of the crisis."
They demanded moves towards better governance and more transparency, warning of "sanctions" against banks which had "risky" business models and which failed to comply with the new rules.
The letter also called for plans to be drawn up that would set out how major financial institutions could be allowed to fail without bringing down the wider system.
Sanctions against "tax havens" that refuse to cooperate with other governments should also be introduced from March next year, according to the leaders.
Reader views (2)
I sincerely hope that Brown also receives ZERO bonus after the mess he has caused for this country through years of poor management. But alas, I am sure he has lined his pockets for years and will walk away completely free to retire on a filthy pension.
- David Cuff, Manchester, 03/09/2009 23:05
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I think Gordo lost the right to moralise about the rights and wrongs of cash payouts when he and his cronies started buying plasma tellies, bath plugs and porn at the taxpayers' expense.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one, 03/09/2009 16:59
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