Green Assembly Member Jenny Jones calls for the Mayor to get tough on banks that try to avoid the bonus cap, stating “Banks should operate as a service for Londoners and London businesses, rather than a casino for rich people”.
The HSBC building in Canary Wharf, picture courtesy of Barry Caruth.
HSBC paid its top staff £900,000 each in bonuses in 2013. It also revealed that it planned to pay new “allowances” to more than 1,000 employees which could side-step new Brussels-imposed ceilings on bonuses. Jenny Jones AM commented:
“The Mayor likes to champion the banking sector by saying they create wealth, but all that wealth is being concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. Today’s news shows that the bankers have learned nothing from their big bail out and are reverting to their pre-crash habits.”
“This latest round of bumper bonuses show why Europe’s cap is necessary, and why the Mayor was wrong to oppose it. To protect the interests of ordinary Londoners, he should putting pressure on the Bank of England regulators to get tough on banks that try to sneak around the bonus cap. Banks should operate as a service for Londoners and London businesses, rather than a casino for rich people.”
Jenny Jones published a report in January, The Bankers Mayor, in which she examined the Mayor’s uncritical support for London’s financial services industry, and the problems the sector has created for London. The report can be downloaded from: http://www.london.gov.uk/profile/jenny-jones/reports