Banks near to FSA deadline
THE UK’s biggest banks have just a week left until they are forced to submit intricate details of their remuneration policies to the Financial Services Authority (FSA), in a drive to reduce risk in the sector.
As part of the regulator’s new code of practice on remuneration, the 26 largest British banks have been given a deadline of 2 November to release the information.
The banks will be forced to reveal details of the amount of hard cash they plan to dole out in bonuses this year, as well as the structure of those bonuses in cash and shares.
The regulator will require banks to disclose where product areas and individual compensation arrangements fall outside the code and set out plans to bring these aspects into line before next year. It said non-compliant firms could face fines or be forced to hold additional capital to offset the increased risk.
The deadline comes weeks before the publication of a report on corporate governance by Sir David Walker, in which the City grandee will call for an end to guaranteed bonuses and the publication of pay bands for banks’ highest earners. Banking chiefs including RBS chairman Philip Hampton are understood to have written to Walker to express concern over the proposals.