Survey finds the bonus culture needs to change

Complinet conducted a survey recently on how the bonus culture within banks is perceived by others both within and outside of the financial services market. It shows that while risk taking has reduced somewhat the majority of firms do not feel that the right controls are in place or that the bonus culture has shifted sufficiently so as to change behavior. Complinet has maintained that eliminating the bonuses is of course unrealistic but Compliance people would be helped immensely if the payouts were linked to longer term prosperity inside the firms and perhaps KPIs related to the viability of the various products sold and their adherence to the rules and regulations that govern them. See the interview from today's FT (Financial Times) for a little more or click on the survey link above to get the full survey results.

There continues to be some concern that the market recovery may quickly fade the memories of some (it's the party without the hangover) and that the US' focus on health reform together with the UK's political shift will overtake what are a set of urgent reforms. On the positive side, we have seem some firms (particularly the larger ones) take very proactive steps to build new controls linking rule changes directly with the market and products sold (operational compliance).