Europe’s fund managers are facing a ban on bonuses that exceed salary as the European parliament pushes for the extension of its severe pay clampdown on bankers to the wider financial sector.
In a political development that shows how the bankers’ bonus cap could snowball through the world of finance, the parliament’s main parties support inserting the curbs into a year-old reform proposal for Ucits funds, a popular investment product – that can be sold across EU borders – which has net assets of €6.4tn.
The parliament’s draft negotiating position, seen by the Financial Times, would enforce a maximum 1:1 ratio of bonus to salary and requires up to 60 per cent of the variable element to be deferred and largely paid in units of the fund the manager runs.