Attached is a pdf of the communiqué from the meeting of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bankers that concluded yesterday in London. It's interesting how the media seem to have seized on the "bonus thing", because I didn't actually notice much emphasis beyond one reference [item 8 below] in this official document.
Understandable that many of you may wish to avoid reading this stuff [I wish I had ], but here's what you'll be missing:
Understandable that many of you may wish to avoid reading this stuff [I wish I had ], but here's what you'll be missing:
- An extended opening filled with self-congratulatory statements of their effective handing of the crisis;
- A call for more of the same ["continue to implement decisively...necessary financial support measures...expansionary monetary and fiscal policies...blah, blah"];
- Some fine words about "building on these achievements" by supporting lending, conducting stress-tests, promoting employment, damping commodity price volatility, and fighting protectionism;
- Yet another completely meaningless statement about coordinating "exit strategies";
- The obligatory reference to "sustainable growth";
- Reassuring words that they will ensure the banks have "appropriate capital" [whatever that means];
- A grand flourish finish that includes: "governance reforms", "increase accountability", "strategic oversight", "stronger cooperation", "sustainable recovery" [that last presumably a distinction from "sustainable growth"].
- And for comic relief they also threw in something about "merit-based selection" for bankers [judged by whom they didn't say]...which sounds a whole lot more civilized than the Darwinian alternative, non?
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