UK proposes earlier banker bonuses in bid to boost competition

UK regulators have officially laid out plans for the country’s top bankers to get their bonuses years earlier in a bid to boost competition with rival jurisdictions.

The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and City watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published proposals on Tuesday to reduce the bonus deferral period for most senior bankers to five years, down from the eight years some currently face.

Other less senior bankers under the regime would see the deferral period reduced to four years and be eligible for part-payment of bonuses from the first year, down from three years.

Regulators imposed rules to defer senior manager bonuses as part of efforts to limit excessive risk-taking after the financial crisis.

Other measures included an EU bonus cap introduced in 2014, but British regulators scrapped this cap last October.

It came after the government handed the FCA and PRA a statutory “secondary objective” to facilitate the UK economy’s international competitiveness and growth.

Sam Woods, the BoE’s deputy governor, said on Tuesday that the new proposals on bonuses would “reduce bureaucracy and support responsible risk-taking” without returning “to the very dangerous pay structures that were commonly in place before 2008”.

“These proposals on bankers’ bonuses will support UK growth and competitiveness without undermining financial stability,” he added.

Sarah Pritchard, the FCA’s executive director for markets and international, said the measures would “remove unnecessary duplication of rules between the regulators, streamline the remuneration regime for firms, and further strengthen the reputation and competitiveness of the UK banking sector”.

Other proposals include removing an EU-imposed requirement for senior bankers to wait up to a year before being able to sell deferred share-based bonuses. Regulators will also look to give firms more discretion on which employees are subject to the new pay rules.