BRUSSELS — Bankers may feel the pinch from European Union bonus curbs starting in 2015, after Britain failed to water down a tentative agreement from last month aimed at reining in greed and excessive risk taking.
European Parliament lawmakers and Ireland, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU, kept bonus restrictions unchanged, as they sealed a deal Wednesday overhauling bank capital and liquidity rules for the 27-nation EU.
The bonus restrictions, which beef-up rules already the toughest in the world, will “significantly reduce remuneration," said Philippe Lamberts, a Green lawmaker in the EU assembly. “It will be impossible to match the excesses of yesterday with a structure that is much more constraining."
The bid to ban bonuses more than twice fixed pay is part of EU legislation to apply international bank capital and liquidity rules known as Basel III.
— Staff and wire reports