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Stockholm - Seven European countries on Friday called on G-20 leaders to put together strict limits on bonuses to bank executives, calling excessive payouts not only "dangerous" but also "indecent, cynical and unacceptable."
In a joint opinion piece in Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter the finance ministers of Sweden, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands said risks related to payouts should be surveilled very strictly.
"Bonuses guaranteed for more than a year should be banned. Bonuses should be paid out over a number of years and should mirror the individual's and the bank's actual performance over time," the ministers wrote.
They urged ministers attending Friday's Group of 20 meeting in London to join in the work to draw up tighter rules, saying they would "obviously be more effective if they are adopted at an international level."
The London meeting of finance ministers is meant to lay the groundwork for the summit of leaders of the world's 20 largest economies to be held in Pittsburgh on September 24 and 25.
"We have to stop some financial actors from returning to the same destructive behaviour as before," they wrote. "We have to be very clear: this behaviour is not just dangerous, it is indecent, cynical and unacceptable. It is a punch in the face of all the people who are quickly becoming unemployed."
The initiative follows a similar move on Thursday by the leaders of France, Germany and Britain. In a joint letter to the Swedish government - which currently holds the rotating European Union presidency - France's Nicolas Sarkozy, Britain's Gordon Brown and Germany's Angela Merkel said it was especially important to forge international rules to rein in traders' bonuses.
- AP
