EU lawmakers to press Barnier on scope of bonus cap rule

By Huw Jones

LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - European Union rules to capbankers' bonuses were in doubt on Monday after the bloc'slawmakers agreed to consider a revamp to stop Britain's bankssoftening their impact.

The cap is one of the most high-profile rules from the28-country bloc after public anger over high pay at banks, manyof which were propped up by taxpayers in the 2007-09 financialcrisis.

The rule limits a bonus to no more than the fixed salary, ortwice that level if approved by the bank's shareholders, andwill affect 2014 awards to be handed out early next year.

Udo Bullmann, a German centre-left member of the EuropeanParliament's economic affairs committee, questioned how theEuropean Banking Authority has fleshed out the rules, sayingtheir scope was narrower than the lawmakers had wanted.

It would only affect a selective number of bankers, Bullmanntold a committee meeting in Strasbourg, France. The EBA scaledback its initial draft to hit fewer bankers.

The European Commission and the EBA could quickly tweak therules to avoid a prolonged delay, and the committee will puttheir concerns to the bloc's financial services Commissioner,Michel Barnier, when they quiz him next week, Bullmann said.

Britain's HSBC has said it will give new"allowances" - expected to take the form of monthly or quarterlypayments in cash or shares - to senior staff to boost theirfixed pay, meaning that higher bonuses could then be awarded. UKpeers Lloyds and Barclays last week indicatedthey would follow suit.

"What's going on in the UK? There is a lot that's happeningthat is not in line with the political decisions that have beentaken here," said Othmar Karas, an Austrian centre rightcommittee member.

The European Parliament has the power to veto the rules,effectively forcing a rewrite, a step that would mean they mightnot be in place to cap bonuses paid out in early 2015.

An official from the Commission, which has endorsed therules, said without them it would be "very difficult" toimplement the wider bank capital requirements law of which theyare part.

The new rules set pan-EU criteria for deciding which bankershave their bonus capped by including anyone earning more than500,000 euros a year for the most part.

"If there is no harmonised criteria by the end of the yearthen they won't apply to 2015 bonuses. That is notsatisfactory," the Commission official said.

The EBA is already reviewing planned allowances to see ifthey comply with the new law.

Britain, meanwhile, is challenging the bonus cap in the EU'stop court, arguing the rule will make it harder for lenders tocut costs when required because it encourages a higher level offixed pay. Bonuses, meanwhile, can be cut or withdrawn easily.

The European Parliament will have to vote on any proposal bymid-April, after which it goes into recess ahead of Mayelections.