G20 aims at bank pay and capital; stimulus to stay

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-06 09:11

BANK PAY AND BUFFERS

Much of the public pressure before the meeting had centred on excessive bank remuneration, particularly for those who worked at banks receiving billions of dollars in public aid.

"It is offensive to the public whose taxpayers' money in different ways has helped (keep) many banks from collapsing and is now underpinning their recovery," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said at the start of Saturday's meetings.

On pay and bonuses in the financial sector, the statement fell short of calling for caps, saying that: "We also ask the Financial Stability Board to explore possible approaches for limiting total variable remuneration in relation to risk and long-term performance."

Related readings:  G20 to keep stimulus for now  G20 to pledge stimulus until economic recovery certain  European countries call on G20 to tackle bonuses  G20 to pledge loose policy until recovery assured

That was seen as a compromise between France and Germany, which had pushed hard for pay limits, and Britain, the United States and Canada, which were opposed to caps. But it also effectively delayed a tricky political issue until the Pittsburgh summit later this month.

Finance leaders broadly agreed that banks ought to hold more capital as a cushion against the sort of catastrophic losses that led to bank failures and bailouts.

The final statement said that banks would "be required to hold more and better quality capital once recovery is assured."

Geithner called for "greater urgency" on regulatory reform and cautioned that as the crisis recedes and the economy improves, the momentum for reform may wane.

He had surprised many of his colleagues by releasing an 8-point proposal on new capital rules just two days before the G20 meeting, with some ministers saying they did not have time to review it.

It is a delicate issue because tighter capital rules would likely hurt banks' profits and restrict their lending, both of which could be harmful to the economy.

CHANGING WORLD ORDER

The statement showed agreement that emerging nations like India and China should have a greater say in the running of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank but did not offer up any formula of how this should be achieved.

It said only that their voice in global economic policymaking would grow "significantly" and that it expected "substantial progress" to be made on the issue at a summit of world leaders in Pittsburgh later this month.

But the group said reforms need only be completed by the existing deadline of 2010 for the World Bank and 2011 for the IMF.

The BRIC group of leading emerging powers -- India, China, Russia and Brazil -- had laid out on Friday concrete targets for how much movement they wanted in IMF and World Bank quotas.

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