26/08/2009
Bonuses: Nicholas Sarkozy wants Paris to be an example to others
Les Echos reports that Nicolas Sarkozy firmly called French bankers to order yesterday, calling for “more transparency, more control, more responsibility” in the matter of bonuses, so that “irresponsible behaviour may be sanctioned.” At least one third of variable pay will be required to be paid in equities, and two thirds in other forms. Bonuses for performance over periods of more than one year will be banned, and a system of maluses will be put in place. The banking commission will oversee the application of these rules in detail, and the former director of the IMF, Michel Camdessus, will be in charge of verifying the salaries of the 100 top-paid traders at each firm. “The government will not work with banks that do not respect these new rules,” said Sarkozy. The head of state claimed that these rules should be part of an international framework, and that he would therefore defend them up until the Pittsburgh summit. “I will not rest in my efforts to bring about a European approach,” he warned. Sarkozy is planning to ask all member states of the G20 to apply the same principle as the Paris financial centre.
