Cameron: We need 'flexible' EU banking regulation

David Cameron has insisted that European regulations need to be flexible enough to allow UK-based international banks to proser.

European Union officials last night struck a deal to cap bankers' bonuses at a year's salary.

Under the deal, which the UK opposes, some bankers may still earn twice their salary in bonuses if there is explicit approval from shareholders.

Speaking in Riga, Cameron said: “What we do have in the UK – and not every other European country has this – is major international banks that are based in the UK but have branches and activities all over the world.

“We need to make sure regulation put in place in Brussels is flexible enough to allow those banks to continue competing and succeeding while being located in the UK.

“We will look carefully at the outcome of the negotiations [in the European Union] before working out the approach we will take at Ecofin next week.”