Release the hounds! Regulators Worldwide Scrutinize Bankers’ Pay

[babylonsister]

Regulators Worldwide Scrutinize Bankers’ Pay

By LANDON THOMAS Jr.
Published: March 19, 2009


LONDON — Some of the world’s most powerful central bankers and financial regulators are proposing that the Securities and Exchange Commission and its counterparts in other countries extend their powers to include the regulation of executive compensation.

Adair Turner, head of the Financial Services Authority in Britain, released a report Wednesday on responses to the global banking crisis. He has also outlined plans for overseeing bankers’ pay.

Adair Turner, Britain’s top financial regulator, laid out the proposed new powers that he and some of his international colleagues hope to wield to ensure that bankers’ bonuses do not rely solely on the pursuit of profit.

Not only will regulators insert themselves into the secretive realm of bank compensation practices, Mr. Turner said, they will also demand that banks set aside more capital if their pay packages are too high.

“This has never been done before,” said Mr. Turner, who heads the Financial Services Authority in Britain. “But the days of light-touch regulation are over.”

Mr. Turner made the remarks in an interview before a speech at the Cass Business School in London this week.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/business/worldbusiness/20supervise.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

[DCKit]

1. That sound you hear is thousands of white collar criminals simultaneously shitting their pants. n/t

[malaise]

2. About time

Banksters are paying themselves with customers' money plus the well known criminality that they have perfected - usury. So they take our savings and charge us ridiculous fees to pay themselves. Life is great for some people in deregulated economies.

[dkf]

3. they will also demand that banks set aside more capital if their pay packages are too high

Wow.