Government plans to buy a stake in the largest UK banks are set to give the state a growing influence on HR and reward in the financial sector.

The plans, announced this morning by chancellor Alistair Darling, make up to £50 billion available to the banks in exchange for preference shares giving the government a stake in the firms. The eight banks offered the deal are Lloyds TSB, HBOS, RBS, Barclays, Abbey, Nationwide, HSBC and Standard Chartered.