Brown told the Financial Times: “I understand all the difficulties because we’re dealing with very many global financial centres, but I think you’ve got to be absolutely clear that remuneration has got to be based on long-term success, not short-term speculative deals.
“There’s got to be a claw-back system in remuneration itself, so that if things are not working in year two then there is a claw-back that is possible.”
The prime minister added: “There is a debate, of course, about caps on bonuses and everything else.
“But I think it’s true to say that the debate will move on to whether the bonuses that are paid are, in general, too high a proportion of company revenues and profits.
“I think this is a legitimate debate for the G20 (group of leading nations) and the world community to have.”
Brown said the new pay arrangements had to be implemented “as quickly as possible”.
He added it would be a “historic mistake to think that we could now return to ‘business as usual'”.
