Voice Project

However, the scope of steps to curb bankers’ bonuses may be limited by the difficulty of drafting watertight rules and also by fears that countries taking tough action may suffer a competitive disadvantage versus other financial centers.

G20 finance ministers meet in London on Sept 4-5 to prepare the ground for a summit of the group’s leaders in the U.S. city of Pittsburgh on September 24-25.

Germany and France say they want a G20 deal on tougher rules governing bonuses to stop a return to “business as usual.”

“The French President (Nicolas Sarkozy) will come to Berlin next Monday on a working visit to prepare the G20 meeting,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview on N24 television on Wednesday.

“Bonuses will be a central theme, because it is really annoying that already today bonuses are being dealt with in some banks almost exactly as they were before,” Merkel said.

G20 host Britain confirmed that bank pay will be on the finance ministers’ agenda.

“The (UK) Chancellor has been clear that the short-term bonus culture must change,” a Treasury spokesman said.

Sarkozy told French bankers on Tuesday he was “scandalised” that lessons from the credit crunch were being forgotten so easily.

Watch for more G20 news to start floating in as we approach the Finance ministers meeting on Sep. 4-5 in London.