G20 draft agrees global stimulus to stay

LONDON, Sept 5 – G20 finance leaders pledged on Saturday to keep economic life-support packages in place until a recovery is firmly secured, but reached no deal on putting limits on bankers’ pay.

Finance ministers and central bankers meeting in London agreed fiscal and monetary policy would stay ”expansionary” until recovery from the worst financial crisis since World War II was certain, a draft of their joint statement seen by Reuters showed.

Key points from the draft communique

Economic stimulus measures::

“We reiterated the need for swift and full implementation of all commitments made at the Washington and London summits and have agreed on further steps to strengthen the financial system as set out in the accompanying declaration.”

Commodity prices:

Pledges to “work to address excessive commodity price volatility.”

Global imbalances:

“Work to achieve high stable growth which will require orderly rebalancing of global demand.”

Reform of International Monetary Fund:

”The voice and representation of emerging and developing economies, including the poorest, must be significantly increased”

Accompanying statement called “Declaration on Further Steps to Strengthen Financial Institutions” with 6 points:

1. Compensation

2. Systemically important firms

3. Prudential regulation

4. Non-cooperative jurisdictions

5. Implementation of international standards for actors outside the core bank system such as credit derivatives etc.

6. Convergence of international accounting standards

Statement says “More needs to be done” on:

- Increasing transparency

- “Global standards on pay structure, including on deferral, effective clawback, the relationship between fixed and variable remuneration, and guaranteed bonuses, to ensure compensation practices are aligned with long-term value creation and financial stability.”

“We also ask the FSB (Financial Stability Board) to explore possible limits/approaches on total variable remuneration.”

“G20 governments will also explore ways to address non-adherence with the FSB principles.”