Will new financial law really curb big City bonuses?

Many politicians and commentators believe that excessive City bonuses encouraged a culture of short-termism in the financial sector that was a contributory cause of the current recession. The Financial Services Act 2010 was the government’s response to this situation.The act was passed on 8 April as part of the "wash-up" procedure prior to Parliament being dissolved on 12 April in preparation for the election. The procedure gives government bills an accelerated Parliamentary route – the political parties agree bill changes rather than subjecting them to a full debate. This tends to lead to controversial parts of an act being removed and only those parts generally accepted by the main parties being retained. Because of this there are unlikely to be many changes made to the new statute by whichever party wins the general election.