Having spent most of my career working on EU banking legislation, including representing the interests of the UK government and international banks, I could not resist the temptation to opine on the recent decision by the UK government to remove the cap on bankers’ bonuses.

If you don’t have time to read 1000 words, my key takeaways are:

1. Of all the measures on which the UK could choose to diverge from EU legislation, this is a curious choice, particularly given the current crisis climate;
2. Even if there may be some economic rationale in removing the cap, doing so now could be construed as politically highly insensitive;
3. The EU bonus cap was always more of a symbolic, political issue than an economic one – another example of where politics trumps economics;
4. Despite what some politicians and commentators lead people to believe, the UK was very rarely outvoted in Council; it is disingenuous to portray the EU bankers bonus provision as an example of a lack of UK influence in the EU.    

—-> UK government to remove the bankers bonus cap