EU bankers bonus cap passes limiting them to just DOUBLE salaries

Britain has been defeated in the latest round of talks to cap bankers' bonuses across Europe at twice their salaries.

Unless reversed by EU government ministers, a new accord is due in force at the start of next year as part of a series of new financial regulations in response to the economic crisis.

Overnight talks in Brussels, involving MEPs, the European Commission, and EU ambassadors, agreed that bonuses should be limited to, at most, twice bankers' salaries, and that banks should be forced to set aside more money to give extra help to small business.

The UK has been battling to stop the so-called "Basel 111" accord on capital requirements, fearing the impact on the City of London as the EU's leading financial capital.

The only hope now of stopping a deal is a vote of EU finance ministers to endorse the provisional agreement.

Austrian MEP Othmar Karas, leading negotiations on behalf of the European Parliament, said: "For the first time in the history of EU financial market regulation, we will cap bankers' bonuses. But this is not the most important part of the new rules.

"The essence is that from 2014, European banks will have to set aside more money to be more stable and concentrate on their core business, namely financing the real economy, that of small and medium-sized enterprises and jobs."