BoE pushes banks to cut bonuses, dividends to improve balance sheets
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – The Bank of England’s new Financial Policy Committee recommended on Wednesday for British banks to reduce their bonuses and shareholder dividends to strengthen their balance sheets.
The recommendation was made in anticipation of another financial crisis likely to be caused by the worsening eurozone debt contagion. The BoE also warned the banks to prepare for future shocks.
The bank did not specify how much the financial institutions should reduce their discretionary distributions, but in previous reports suggested that by limiting dividend payouts and constraining compensation ratios, the banks could raise up to $15 billion (£10 billion) a year.
The amount could be used to support $75 billion (£50 billion) of new lending to households and businesses. Although the banks cut their bonuses by 8 percent in 2010, the banks still paid out a total of $10.05 billion (£6.7 billion) to executives.
The committee also recommended cutting staff to address the anticipated strains in financial markets. For banks that have strong earnings, the committee advised them to build capital levels further.
Another impact of a second round of financial crisis is possible tighter credit in the coming months, the Bank of England said in its quarterly credit conditions survey it issued alongside the committee’s report.
The FPC also proposed more measures to improve the banks’ balance sheets, such as setting loan-to-value ratio caps for mortgage borrowers, margin requirements, maximum leverage ratios for banks, variable capital buffers, risk weightings on loans and additional transparent disclosure requirements.
View full post on Politics Stories