The European Union should go ahead with imposing limits on bankers' bonuses even if the United States does not after this week's G20 summit in Pittsburgh, European Commission president Jose-Manuel Barroso said on Sunday. "It would be interesting, important, useful to have if possible the same rules in the world (...) to have the Americans at our side," he told the France TV5 television station.
The European Union should go ahead with imposing limits on bankers' bonuses even if the United States does not after this week's G20 summit in Pittsburgh, European Commission president Jose-Manuel Barroso said on Sunday.
"It would be interesting, important, useful to have if possible the same rules in the world (...) to have the Americans at our side," he told the France TV5 television station.
In the grim period that followed Lehman's failure, it seemed inconceivable that bankers would, just a few months later, be going right back to the practices that brought the world's financial system to the edge of collapse. At the very least, one might have thought, they would show some restraint for fear of creating a public backlash. But now that we've stepped back a few paces from the brink -- thanks, let's not forget, to immense, taxpayer-financed rescue packages -- the financial sector is rapidly returning to business as usual. Even as the rest of the nation continues to suffer from rising unemployment and severe hardship, Wall Street paychecks are heading back to pre-crisis levels. And the industry is deploying its political clout to block even the most minimal reforms.The good news is that senior officials in the Obama administration and at the Federal Reserve seem to be losing patience with the industry's selfishness. The bad news is that it's not clear whether President Obama himself is ready, even now, to take on the bankers.
But now that we've stepped back a few paces from the brink -- thanks, let's not forget, to immense, taxpayer-financed rescue packages -- the financial sector is rapidly returning to business as usual. Even as the rest of the nation continues to suffer from rising unemployment and severe hardship, Wall Street paychecks are heading back to pre-crisis levels. And the industry is deploying its political clout to block even the most minimal reforms.
The good news is that senior officials in the Obama administration and at the Federal Reserve seem to be losing patience with the industry's selfishness. The bad news is that it's not clear whether President Obama himself is ready, even now, to take on the bankers.
FRANKFURT -- World leaders at the Group of 20 meeting this week should force banks to build up their reserves substantially to avoid another acute financial crisis, a leading association of regulatory experts said Monday. Lurking behind the appeal from the European Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee, a panel of academics and former regulators, is a fear that the political momentum for deep-seated reform may be waning as the financial crisis ebbs. Although a recent meeting of G-20 finance ministers in London discussed ideas for increasing the reserves that banks must hold against losses, there was little sense of urgency. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said he wanted to see a final agreement by the end of next year.Harald Benink, a professor of banking and finance at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and a member of the shadow committee, said the global effort to revamp banking regulation had slowed badly as officials became bogged down in debates over executive pay. But only higher reserves will avoid future crises, he said."There is no point in doing anything but talking about how much capital banks need to have on hand," Mr. Benink said.
FRANKFURT -- World leaders at the Group of 20 meeting this week should force banks to build up their reserves substantially to avoid another acute financial crisis, a leading association of regulatory experts said Monday.
Lurking behind the appeal from the European Shadow Financial Regulatory Committee, a panel of academics and former regulators, is a fear that the political momentum for deep-seated reform may be waning as the financial crisis ebbs. Although a recent meeting of G-20 finance ministers in London discussed ideas for increasing the reserves that banks must hold against losses, there was little sense of urgency. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said he wanted to see a final agreement by the end of next year.
Harald Benink, a professor of banking and finance at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and a member of the shadow committee, said the global effort to revamp banking regulation had slowed badly as officials became bogged down in debates over executive pay. But only higher reserves will avoid future crises, he said.
"There is no point in doing anything but talking about how much capital banks need to have on hand," Mr. Benink said.
