The financial regulator in the U.K. will get more power to curb bonuses deemed to foster risky behavior if Gordon Brown is sent back to 10 Downing St. after May's general election.
According to Bloomberg News, Mr. Brown's plan is to give the Financial Services Authority the ability to throw out employment contracts for bankers, as well as seek ways to stop bankers from burying their pay in pensions and other hiding places.
"We have got to have a tough line on remuneration," Mr. Brown said at an election campaign event in London last night, according to Bloomberg News. "We will not hesitate to give the FSA the powers to quash executive bonuses if we feel it is simply wrong for the financial system to encourage reckless and irresponsible behavior."
This will make the U.K. system feel a lot more like Canada, where the main regulator of banks has taken an active role in determining what flies and what doesn't when it comes to banker pay, with such things as guaranteed bonuses now considered offside.