Pay for top U.K. traders to be revealed

The pay and bonuses of hundreds of high-flying City traders and dealmakers will have to be publicly disclosed under a Treasury-backed plan to curb excessive and risky remuneration.

Alistair Darling, chancellor, wants banks to be more transparent about what they pay their top earners to expose them to more scrutiny from the media, public and shareholders.

At present, such scrutiny only applies to the pay of board members. But an interim report by Sir David Walker, former chairman of Morgan Stanley International, will propose on Thursday that pay, bonuses and pension details should be revealed for all staff earning more than the average executive salary in the boardroom.

This could affect between 200 and 300 traders and senior executives at most big banks, although the report proposes that the anonymity of individuals be preserved by listing remuneration in bands.

Remuneration committees would be required to have greater oversight of these high earners’ packages to ensure that they were aligned with banks’ long-term plans rather than short-term profits.

Although the rules are directed at UK banks, foreign-owned groups with big British operations, such as Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, could be required to make similar disclosures to the Financial Services Authority. The proposal would potentially affect thousands of City bankers.

Many of the City’s best-known, and best-paid, dealmakers work for US institutions – Simon Robey at Morgan Stanley, Matthew Westerman and Yoel Zaoui at Goldman Sachs and Tom King at Citigroup.

The disclosure would be less punitive than in the US, where banks must disclose the identities of their five highest-paid members of staff, several of whom are typically investment bankers rather than board-level executives.

Mr Darling will receive Sir David’s final report in the autumn and is expected to adopt most of its recommendations, including plans to improve the quality of bank boards.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/fca469f2-7174-11de-a821-00144feabdc0.html

So many "Sirs" in this report, I couldn´t concentrate on the context. Will the traders with 7 diggit numbers also be called "trader, Sir" ?

 

yes, thats usually how i am greeted as i walk into my office

 

Yes, of course, Sir!