UK regulators propose more relaxed rules on bankers’ bonuses

LONDON (Reuters) -British bankers should be able to spend their bonuses sooner, the Bank of England and Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority said on Tuesday, setting out plans to relax rules put in place after the global financial crisis.

The BoE and FCA proposed that the most senior bankers should have their bonuses deferred by five years, rather than as long as eight at present, while less senior bankers would have a four-year deferral period.

Part payment of bonuses would be allowed from the first year rather than the third, they added.

We should not return to the very dangerous pay structures that were commonly in place before 2008, but these proposals will reduce bureaucracy and support responsible risk-taking,” BoE Deputy Governor Sam Woods said.

Earlier this month British finance minister Rachel Reeves instructed the BoE and FCA to do more to support growth and said regulators had gone too far and tried to eliminate all risk-taking in financial services.

The proposals are subject to a consultation which will run until March 13.

Long deferral periods for bankers’ bonuses were designed after the financial crisis to enable remuneration to be clawed back by regulators in case of misconduct or bad decisions that only came to light years later.

The BoE and FCA said they now believed the existing deferral periods were longer than needed and out of line with other jurisdictions.

Tight rules on bonuses had also encouraged banks to increase basic pay for senior bankers, which was harder to cut than bonuses when banks made heavy losses, the BoE said.

“The proposals in this consultation paper … aim to enhance accountability for risk management failure and risk management outcomes amongst senior staff in firms,” it said.

(Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar)