France will follow Britain and slap a 50% tax on bankers' bonuses above €27,500, Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said today.
Lagarde said after a cabinet meeting that a bill detailing the new tax would be presented to parliament in January.
'The banks will see their bonuses of more than €27,500 taxed in 2010 and it will be a 50% tax,' she said.
Meanwhile, Britain intends that its controversial bank bonus tax will be a one-off and is confident it will help restrain payouts after talks with the industry over the last week, Treasury minister Paul Myners said today.
'From the engagement I've had with the banking industry to date I'm fairly clear that it's not going to require it to be extended further. We've made it very clear it's a one-off tax,' Mr Myners said.
Britain last week unveiled a 50% tax for banks on any bonuses over £25,000 sterling in an effort to rein in multi-million pound payouts across an industry bailed out by taxpayer cash, which critics say could lead to an exodus of bankers and make London uncompetitive.
There have been concerns the tax could be extended if banks try to sidestep the levy, but Myners said: 'The purpose is to reinforce the impact of remuneration on risk, and we would evaluate how that develops over the next three or four months.'
Myners, a City veteran and one of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's trusted advisers, said the tax will be targeted at staff involved in the activities of banking and Britain's tax authorities would provide further clarity on its scope.
Investment managers, hedge funds, stockbrokers and others have said they are uncertain if they will be affected as the legislation has been drafted widely.
Britain introduced the tax on December 9 and expects it to apply to 20,000 to 30,000 people.
The move has been popular among a public angry at the role of banks in the financial crisis, according to polls, but slammed by the industry.
