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Putting a cap on top bankers' pay Putting a cap on top bankers' pay
(2 months later)
As bankers' pay, plus bonuses, plus long-term incentive schemes, plus share options, plus pension pots begin to head north again and City bonuses rise above £4bn, the European Banking Authority publishes some dramatic figures (Report, 16 July). They show that there were 2,436 bankers in the UK paid more than €1m (£833,000) in 2011. That is 77% of all the bankers paid above this level in the nine biggest EU states. In Germany there were only 170, in France 162, Spain 125 and Italy 96. The City is twice as large relative to size of economy compared with the other big EU countries, but why are there 14 times more euro millionaire bankers in the UK than Germany, and 15 times more than in France? And are banker euro millionaires justified at all when out of greed and recklessness they nearly crashed both the national and global economy?As bankers' pay, plus bonuses, plus long-term incentive schemes, plus share options, plus pension pots begin to head north again and City bonuses rise above £4bn, the European Banking Authority publishes some dramatic figures (Report, 16 July). They show that there were 2,436 bankers in the UK paid more than €1m (£833,000) in 2011. That is 77% of all the bankers paid above this level in the nine biggest EU states. In Germany there were only 170, in France 162, Spain 125 and Italy 96. The City is twice as large relative to size of economy compared with the other big EU countries, but why are there 14 times more euro millionaire bankers in the UK than Germany, and 15 times more than in France? And are banker euro millionaires justified at all when out of greed and recklessness they nearly crashed both the national and global economy?
So will the government rein them in? It seems unlikely when this government is far more concerned whether the unemployed deserve their £71 a week "handout" than whether City bankers get a minimum of £16,025 a week – let alone when the Tories get half their donated income from banks and hedge funds. However, the EU commission has heroically, and rightly, decided that top staff at banks receiving new state aid should have their total pay, including bonuses and share awards, capped at 15 times the national average salary, or 10 times the average bank employee's salary. These new rules come into force next month. This means, since the UK national average salary is currently calculated at £26,500, that the pay of top executives at failing banks will be £397,500. So if that is right for top executives in failing banks, why not for those in other banks as well?
Michael Meacher MP
Labour, Oldham West and Royton 		So will the government rein them in? It seems unlikely when this government is far more concerned whether the unemployed deserve their £71 a week "handout" than whether City bankers get a minimum of £16,025 a week – let alone when the Tories get half their donated income from banks and hedge funds. However, the EU commission has heroically, and rightly, decided that top staff at banks receiving new state aid should have their total pay, including bonuses and share awards, capped at 15 times the national average salary, or 10 times the average bank employee's salary. These new rules come into force next month. This means, since the UK national average salary is currently calculated at £26,500, that the pay of top executives at failing banks will be £397,500. So if that is right for top executives in failing banks, why not for those in other banks as well?
Michael Meacher MP
Labour, Oldham West and Royton
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