What should HK and SG do about bonuses?

16 September 2009

1 minute read

Banking bonuses stole the headings at the recent gathering of G20 finance minister in London. And the upcoming G20 summit in Pittsburgh is expected to draw up specific guidelines.

But is the G20 - which includes countries like Turkey, Indonesia, Argentina and South Africa - really the right forum to debate such a banking-specific topic?

Should Singapore and Hong Kong, as major financial centres, have more say in how global banks control the compensation of their offices in Asia?

Should the global banks impose new bonuses strategies in Asia which have been dreamed up overseas? Do banks in SG and HK, which are emerging from the financial crisis ahead of those in the US and Europe, even need to reform their bonus policies to the same extent?

And if you were drawing up a strategy for bonuses in these centres, what would you include? Do you fancy capping like the French? Or limits on bonuses for firms with low capital levels, as the Financial Stability Board has suggested?

Give us an Asian take on bonuses below.

AUTHORefinancialcareers.hk

Insider Comment

Ti
Tim
17 September 2009
Hong Kong and Singapore will impose price ceilings on talent at their own considerable peril as financial centres. I don't think either will end up following the assinine Anglo-Saxon populists over that particular cliff.
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Tr
Trent
16 September 2009
The banks that pay the best money in Asia are all foreign, so there's not a lot we can do really on this front, other than wait and see what happens.
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GG
GG
16 September 2009
The capping suggestion would be hard to enforce in practice and would penalise top performers.
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