Responding to the European Banking Authorities report on discretionary remuneration practices, a spokesman for the BBA said: “The British banking industry has made great strides in recent years to reform the way in which highly paid staff are remunerated.
“This has included deferring bonuses, paying more in shares and being able to claw back bonuses if it subsequently emerges that they were not deserved. Variable pay also provides flexibility in the cost base making banks more financially secure.
“Any move which increases fixed costs and reduces the ability to use these tools which UK regulators have rightly put in place in recent years seems counterintuitive.”