If it is not possible to find an agreement at a European level, Belgium will propose stricter measures on banks, following the steps of Nicolas Sarkozy for France. 

Paris and Berlin want to limit banker’s bonuses and oblige the banks to increase their emergency funds, explained the German chancellor Angela Merkel and the French president. 

Sarkozy has reached an agreement with the French banking sector for a premium-bonus system. This system means that the payment of a bonus would be staggered over three years to measure achievement, and that an employee could not receive more than a third of their bonus in the first year. This measure aims to monitor the effects of short-term goals, as an employee could potentially lose the other two-thirds of their bonus over the three year period.

Didier Reynders has supported calls for these measures to be put into place all over Europe, but said that even if no such agreement was reached, Belgian banks would receive limits on the amount of bonuses their employees were to be awarded.

Le Soir/Expatica