(Adds Darling comments)
By Matt Falloon
BRIGHTON, England, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Five of Britain's biggest banks have promised to abide by internationally agreed curbs on bonuses, the British government said on Wednesday.
HSBC Holdings Plc
The banks have agreed to comply with Financial Services Authority (FSA) rules on remuneration, which are broadly in line with the G20 approach and will be updated next year to close any gaps, the Treasury said.
"They are committed to implementing important enhancements in disclosure, deferral and clawback with effect from 1 January 2010 for performance year 2009," the Treasury said in a statement.
Finance Minister Alistair Darling, who met with the banks on Wednesday morning, is writing to other countries to urge them to negotiate similar arrangements, a government source said.
In a letter to Sweden's finance minister Anders Borg, whose country is hosting an informal meeting of EU finance ministers on Thursday, Darling said he and French economy minister Christine Lagarde had agreed rules on financial sector pay will be implemented in France and the UK "without delay."
"I urge all EU colleagues to take similar measures as quickly as possible, and look forward to discussing national implementation plans at tomorrow's meeting at ECOFIN," he said.
Britain is also hoping to reach similar agreements with other UK and international banks.
"What we wanted to stop was the dangerous excesses which led to reckless behavior, which had catastrophic consequences; that's why what we agreed at the weekend was so, so, important," Darling told BBC Television.
Darling said the rules for the banks in which British taxpayers own substantial shareholdings are "tighter" simply because the government has a major stake in them.
"But the key thing is to make sure that all the banks ... change the direction they have been traveling in.
"And that's why the fact the banks have agreed so quickly to comply with the new international regime, I think is a major step forward," he said.
Excessive bonuses and rewards in the banking sector have been blamed as a key cause of the financial crisis, as they tempted bankers to take on too much risk.
However, countries have been reluctant to clamp down on pay too soon without international agreement and action because of fears that bankers seeking big money would just move to areas with slacker rules and persist with risky behavior.
"In a competitive and international business it is right to make sure that our staff are appropriately and competitively rewarded for sustainable, long-term performance," the five banks said in a statement.
"We therefore welcome the G20 remuneration reforms and their global nature, as it is essential that banking reward is consistent with effective risk management and that there is parity both nationally and internationally on these issues." (Additional reporting by Stefano Ambrogi; Editing by David Milliken, David Holmes and Gerald E. McCormick)