This is a start though the more important issue here is whether all countries will participate in a unified plan or if the banks will continue to dictate their pay. Without a consistent plan across the EU (and Switzerland) plus the US, there's little hope that any pressure will work. Reuters:
Amid growing international concern over bank bonus payments that have been creeping up to levels seen before last year's financial market meltdown, Sarkozy called in the heads of France's biggest banks to announce tougher controls.
"I was scandalized to see the lessons of the crisis being forgotten so quickly by some people at a time when the page has not even been turned on the crisis," Sarkozy said after the meeting the Elysee Palace.
Outrage over bonuses in France has been stoked by concern that banks have been tight-fisted in lending to small companies, despite the massive injections of public support made available to the financial sector.
He said banks would henceforth be required to defer two thirds of bonuses paid to traders over three years and make a third of the payout in bank stock.
