Plea: Deutsche Bank chief executive Christian Sewing
The chief executive of Deutsche Bank has called on the European Union to follow Britain and scrap the cap on banker bonuses in order to help it compete with other financial centres.
‘In the fight for the best talent, we need a level playing field,’ Christian Sewing told the FT’s global banking summit.
‘Removing the bonus cap – if this is done in most parts of the world where the major financial institutions are sitting – then this is something which we need to take into account, which we need to consider in order to stay competitive and get these talents.’
It came after Britain’s City minister Bim Afolami said the Government was relaxed about pay packages for bankers surging after the UK cap was removed.
He told the summit he wanted to revive the City’s ‘animal spirits’ and said regulators must not make the UK ‘the safest graveyard’. But HSBC boss Noel Quinn sounded a note of caution.
He told the summit: ‘I think we’ve got to remain sensible and reward people appropriately.
‘Do not encourage them to take inappropriate risks.’
And Sewing added: ‘A potential removal of the bonus cap does not mean for me that we can go into excessive risk-taking: these times are over.
‘So, if you attach such a decision to your general conviction… that the risk culture and the mindset of the people changed, I think then you can do it.’
