Bankers admit they are STILL paid

• More than 1,000 finance workers were surveyed about pay in the industry
• 75% said some bankers are  'still paid excessively'
• Two-thirds say they 'inappropriate behaviour' is encouraged

The majority of bankers admit some of their colleagues are ‘paid excessively’ and in a way that can ‘incentivise inappropriate behaviour’, a damning study warned today.

Nearly five years after the financial crisis began in 2008, the report highlights how little the banking industry has changed - according to its own workers.

It follows a devastating few years for an industry which the taxpayer was forced to bail out, a lifeline which has been followed by a series of shocking scandals.

These range from the manipulation of key interest rates, the ripping off of vulnerable investors and the mis-selling of loans to small firms.

The report, from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, quizzed more than 1,000 finance workers, including nearly 500 bankers, on how they feel about their job.

Despite such high-profile failures, the report says 75 per cent of bankers ‘agreed’ that some of their colleagues are ‘still paid excessively’.

Official figures, from the Office for National Statistics, reveals the average salary of a man working full-time in the City of London is nearly £100,000.

By comparison, the average figure across the whole of Britain for a man with a full-time job is around £36,000.

The gold-plated pay packages fuels some bankers to behave in an outrageous, sometimes even illegal, way, according to the report.

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The CIPD said: ‘Almost two-thirds [65 per cent] of employees agree that some people in their organisations are still rewarded in a way that incentivises inappropriate behaviour.’

One in five bankers said they had ‘felt bullied or put under excessive pressure to behave in ways that are counter to their personal ethics or the interests of customers within the last two years.’ 

But it is the money, more than anything else, which is why so many bankers chose to work in the industry in the first place.

Survey: More than 1,000 finance workers were quizzed about their work, and two-thirds said pay deals caused people to behave inappropriately

When asked why they went into banking, the most popular answer - given by a third of respondents - was the salary and the bonus.

This was ranked far ahead of other answers, such as the work being challenging and interesting or career opportunities.

Peter Cheese, chief executive of the CIPD, said: ‘For too long, many of our financial institutions had been built on cultures that encouraged and rewarded excessive risk taking and singular focus on short-term financial gain.’

Despite such widespread failures in the banking industry, nearly half of bankers said there had not been ‘any initiative’ over the last year to change the culture in the organisation.

Mr Cheese said many workers in the industry ‘could not be further removed from the extraordinary and atypical world of investment banking’, such as cashiers in high-street branches.

But the pride in their jobs and the faith in the effort that they make has been ‘torpedoed by the damaging behaviours of the recent past.’ 

Few top bankers have apologised, with the former chief executive of Barclays, Bob Diamond, widely lambasted for claiming in 2011 that the time for ‘remorse and apology’ was ‘over.’ 

Sir James Crosby, the former chief executive of Halifax, is one of the few bankers to have apologised, saying recently he was ‘deeply sorry’ and offering to forfeit his knighthood and 30 per cent of his £580,000-a-year pension.

Former Barclays Chief Executive Bob Diamond (left) claimed two years ago that the time for 'remorse and apology' was over while Sir James Crosby, the former chief executive of Halifax, is one of the few senior bankers to apologise

A spokesman for the British Bankers’ Association said: 'Banks have changed and are working hard to restore trust and confidence in the banking industry, but there is still more to be done.

'Pay practices have been completely transformed. Since 2007, the total bonus pool has dropped by 55 per cent and bankers in London are now paid less than they are in rival financial centres such as New York, Singapore or Hong Kong.

‘The banks are also becoming a lot more customer-focused. All of the UK's high street banks have committed publicly to ensuring a decisive end to any bad practices which resulted in mis-selling. Banks are overhauling their incentive structures for frontline staff, rewarding staff for high levels of customer service and not sales volumes.'

Last month, the Prime Minister called for the sport of so-called ‘banker bashing’ to stop, urging people to celebrate, rather than crucify, their achievements.

Speaking at a conference in London, David Cameron said: ‘I think it is clear that this is an industry where we have a massive, international global advantage.

‘We should be proud about that. We should speak up for that.

‘That means we should not spend our time in politics endlessly bashing the banks and financial institutions.

‘If we want the economy to recover, the economy to grow, you have to play to your strengths.’

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