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.”
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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'”.
