U.K. moves to outlaw annual bank bonuses

British Treasury chief Alistair Darling said Monday that annual bonuses for bank executives will be outlawed in an attempt to curb excessive risk-taking in the country's huge financial sector.

Darling told the governing Labour Party's annual conference in Brighton, England, that new legislation to restrict how the payments are made will be introduced in Parliament within weeks.

Leaders of the G20 group of rich and developing countries agreed last week to limit executive bonuses, but did not set specific caps.

Darling said bankers in Britain will in the future be offered bonuses for their performance over several years, rather than over 12 months.

"We won't allow greed and recklessness to ever again endanger the whole global economy and the lives of millions of people," Darling said.

He told the conference that new laws would include a claw-back provision and help to "end the reckless culture that puts short-term profits over long-term success."

"It will mean an immediate end to automatic bank bonuses year after year, it will mean an end to immediate payouts for top management," Darling said.