What is more important than the financial market White Paper?
As we covered in one of our earlier posts, the UK government has this week delayed yet again the publication of the White Paper on the future regulatory framework of the UK financial markets. Claiming there are two other financial White Papers to be released over the next few days many people cannot believe that these other White Papers have taken precedence over the financial sector. So what exactly does the government have planned for the UK financial sector?
The UK government has been very vocal in support of curbing both salaries and bonuses across the board yet recently we saw a potential £9.6 million bonus scheme announced for Stephen Hester, the chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland. It would appear that the government is saying one thing in public and doing something very different behind-the-scenes because there is no way the UK government was not informed about the potential pay package and bonus scheme. The fact that the operation is majority-owned by the UK taxpayer adds further confusion to the mix because a simple vote down of this package would have blocked the idea in a moment.
Whether we will actually find out what really is going on remains to be seen.
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