Showing posts with label banker's bonuses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label banker's bonuses. Show all posts
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
HAS ANYONE TOLD DAVE...
News that the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, desires action to be taken in the New Year (after due consultation) to improve transparency and curb excessive executive pay packages in the public sector, should welcomed. The move, is apparently, intended to ensure that public sector workers don’t feel they were bearing the brunt of the cuts while their bosses are not. The Deputy PM indicated that there would be moves to increase transparency and that legislation could be brought forward in the New Year. I wonder if he has told Dave and George yet? I suspect the answer might be not yet, as apparently senior Conservatives are said to be sceptical about the plans and say no government work is under way on implementing them.
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
HIRED HELP?
The Conservatives (sorry Con Dems) since coming to power have imposed a bank levy which will raise an estimated £2.5 billion pounds a year. Sounds good and reasonable, unless, you note that during the same period they have slashed corporation tax rates from 28% to 24% which means that any impact on the finance houses in the City will be relatively minimal.
As for the levy itself, which originally proposed that a levy of 0.07% on all of a banks liabilities, HM Treasury has watered it down, saying that the banks won't have to pay the tax on the first £20 billion pounds of their liabilities. The chancellor has also chosen not to take forward the recommendation of Sir David Walker that banks should be forced to disclose all pay packages above £1 million pounds.
Also there won't be any action to curb the bonus culture which is expected to see £7 billion pounds splashed out this year. Just for the record, back in 2010, the big 4 banks between them managed to pay some 200 of their staff an average of £1 million pounds last year, very nice if you can get it., even better if we are in tough economic times and all in it together so to speak.
Oddly enough it gets better or worse depending on where you stand, the Conservatives have also been accused of introducing laws to give a full tax exemption for British companies tax haven branches which allows them to benefit from an 8% tax rate for profits diverted to havens via internal financing.
A Daily Mirror investigation suggests that of the 498 Tory MPs and peers some 134 have been or are employed in the financial sector, this figure also includes 70 of the party’s 305 MPs. It has also been suggested that among the 193 Conservative peers, over a third work or have worked in finance or banking.
The Financial Times has noted that an investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism which has revealed that financial services companies and individuals donated £11.4m to the Tory party in the first three quarters of 2010. The investigation noted that some 450 separate donations to Conservative Central Office were made by individuals, companies and limited liability partnerships and that 27%, or £3.3m, of the £12.18m donated to the party came from hedge funds, financiers and private equity firms.
Clearly the Conservatives have come a long way over the last few years since those heady days in opposition when they needed to look good, by way of comparison with the years of new Labour sleaze. So it should come as no surprise that Mr Osborne will soon fly off to do battle on behalf of the City banks in Europe to prevent a pan European levy on the banks, still with hired help it's may be appropriate to pay for what you get. I wonder what his hourly rate is?
As for the levy itself, which originally proposed that a levy of 0.07% on all of a banks liabilities, HM Treasury has watered it down, saying that the banks won't have to pay the tax on the first £20 billion pounds of their liabilities. The chancellor has also chosen not to take forward the recommendation of Sir David Walker that banks should be forced to disclose all pay packages above £1 million pounds.
Also there won't be any action to curb the bonus culture which is expected to see £7 billion pounds splashed out this year. Just for the record, back in 2010, the big 4 banks between them managed to pay some 200 of their staff an average of £1 million pounds last year, very nice if you can get it., even better if we are in tough economic times and all in it together so to speak.
Oddly enough it gets better or worse depending on where you stand, the Conservatives have also been accused of introducing laws to give a full tax exemption for British companies tax haven branches which allows them to benefit from an 8% tax rate for profits diverted to havens via internal financing.
A Daily Mirror investigation suggests that of the 498 Tory MPs and peers some 134 have been or are employed in the financial sector, this figure also includes 70 of the party’s 305 MPs. It has also been suggested that among the 193 Conservative peers, over a third work or have worked in finance or banking.
The Financial Times has noted that an investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism which has revealed that financial services companies and individuals donated £11.4m to the Tory party in the first three quarters of 2010. The investigation noted that some 450 separate donations to Conservative Central Office were made by individuals, companies and limited liability partnerships and that 27%, or £3.3m, of the £12.18m donated to the party came from hedge funds, financiers and private equity firms.
Clearly the Conservatives have come a long way over the last few years since those heady days in opposition when they needed to look good, by way of comparison with the years of new Labour sleaze. So it should come as no surprise that Mr Osborne will soon fly off to do battle on behalf of the City banks in Europe to prevent a pan European levy on the banks, still with hired help it's may be appropriate to pay for what you get. I wonder what his hourly rate is?
Sunday, 6 February 2011
ALL IN IT TOGETHER...
We keep being told that we are all in it together, the revelation in The Guardian (05.02.2011) that the number of ministers setting up blind trusts so that they can continue to profit from financial interests that might present a conflict with their government responsibilities has increased threefold under the coalition (as revealed by official documents) may well suggest that many of us are significantly more in it, than some in the Con Dem Cabinet. The Guardian notes that 16 ministers, including the energy secretary, Chris Huhne, the justice secretary, Ken Clarke, and the cabinet office minister, Francis Maude, have blind trusts in place, as recorded by the official register of ministerial interests.
The Independent on Sunday (06.02.2011) notes that Britain's four biggest banks – Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Lloyds Bank – are expected to pay out a total bonus pool of about £5 billion over the next few weeks to their high-performing bankers and traders. RBS's chief executive, Stephen Hester, is due for a bonus of £2 million; the recently departed boss of Lloyds, Eric Daniels, will take home a £2 million bonus while Stuart Gulliver, the new chief executive of HSBC, is set to be paid a Diamond-style bonus of about £8 million.
Remember this...
"It is wholly untenable to have millions of people making sacrifices in their living standards only to see the banks getting away scot-free."
Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister, 17 December 2010
and
"Bankers have to realise that the British public helped to bail out the banks and it is very galling when they see bankers pay themselves unjustified bonuses."
David Cameron, Prime Minister, 17 December 2010
So much for curbing the bank's bonus culture...
The Independent on Sunday (06.02.2011) notes that Britain's four biggest banks – Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Lloyds Bank – are expected to pay out a total bonus pool of about £5 billion over the next few weeks to their high-performing bankers and traders. RBS's chief executive, Stephen Hester, is due for a bonus of £2 million; the recently departed boss of Lloyds, Eric Daniels, will take home a £2 million bonus while Stuart Gulliver, the new chief executive of HSBC, is set to be paid a Diamond-style bonus of about £8 million.
Remember this...
"It is wholly untenable to have millions of people making sacrifices in their living standards only to see the banks getting away scot-free."
Nick Clegg, Deputy Prime Minister, 17 December 2010
and
"Bankers have to realise that the British public helped to bail out the banks and it is very galling when they see bankers pay themselves unjustified bonuses."
David Cameron, Prime Minister, 17 December 2010
So much for curbing the bank's bonus culture...
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