(17 November 2009 – UK) The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown, has spelled out his intentions to ‘transform’ the British financial sector.Mr Brown’s government will be setting out their political program this week and plans tougher policing of the financial sector, focusing on the excessive pay received by bankers.
It has been widely publicised that many blame large bonuses and high salaries for the state of the unstable financial system.
Mr Brown said a Financial Services Bill would offer tough new powers that will enable regulators to tear up bankers’ contracts if they include excessive pay and bonus deals that may threaten the stability of the sector or encourage excessive risk taking.
Despite Britain still being slumped in the recession, Mr Brown said that Britain has a ‘bright future’ and that it had faire well in terms of job losses and repossessions compared to the early 1990s.
The FSA will also be able to renegotiate remuneration packages that breach its pay code and impose penalties to banks that continue to offer unjustifiable sums.
Mr Brown said that his government will ensure that the banking crisis that has been experienced over the last two years should never again come at a cost to the taxpayer.
This means a transformation of the way the financial sector is policed, with banks themselves and not the taxpayer made to pay for bank failings, Mr Brown added.