Myners to push for greater pay disclosure

From the FT:

Tens of thousands of investment bankers could be caught by a government proposal that banks should disclose pay details for anyone earning more than £500,000 a year.

Lord Myners , the City minister, said yesterday he would hold consultations on making more draconian the pay disclosure requirements that were recommended last year by Sir David Walker in a bank corporate governance report.

Banks must disclose pay details only for board-level staff. Sir David said banks should also disclose how many people earned above £1m: bankers estimate that a few thousand City workers would be caught by that requirement.

But Lord Myners wants to cut the threshold to £500,000 and require reporting in £500,000 bands above that level. One big investment bank estimated the move would affect 20,000 to 25,000 bankers across the City. The proposal will cause fury among Britain's banks, with most arguing that the disclosure rules merely fuel the politics of envy and have nothing to do with making the industry safer.