Brussels moves to cap banker bonuses

Members of the European Parliament have submitted dozens of amendments relating to remuneration to be included in the latest bank capital rules, Basel III, it emerged last night. Michel Barnier, Europe's markets chief, is reported to be encouraging MEPs to take a firm stance on the matter, as new data showed the ratio of bonus to salary at one European institution hit 940pc for non–execs. The moves in Brussels to restrain payouts to bankers emerged alongside a new report by leading finance professionals said that banks including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan should split the role of chief executive and chairman, in order to reduce the threat of another financial crisis. The need to split the role at major financial institutions was one of the chief recommendations of a wide–ranging study conducted by Group of Thirty, a group of former central bankers, regulators and bank bosses. The call for banks to split the role of chief executive and chairman will resound loudly in the US, where Jamie Dimon, James Gorman and Lloyd Blankfein fill both positions at JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs respectively.