No gold bars but higher salaries for London bankers with bonus cap

In the 1990s, London-based investment banks rewarded top employees with gold bars, fine wine and oriental carpets to dent the impact of higher payroll taxes. Now, with public anger at banking excess near all time highs, they are looking at less flashy ways to cope with curbs on bonuses, including a new monthly allowance. European rules due to take force in January say bankers' bonuses cannot exceed annual salary, or twice that if shareholders approve, to curb the sort of excessive risk-taking blamed for the 2008-09 financial crisis. At least 10,000 bankers, most of them in London, take home more than half a million euros 500,000 euros ($678,700), according to industry sources, more than 10 times the average wage in wealthier European states.

via Business News - Yahoo Finance http://finance.yahoo.com/news/no-gold-bars-higher-salaries-150357621.html