Banks, bonuses, tax havens and under-regulation caused the financial crisis and are the keys to reform. Not so, the OECD warns as the G20 takes steps in such areas. Compromises on action to deal with symptoms, such as bonuses, rather than action on real causes could even end up doing more harm than good, the OECD said in a report and remarks to AFP.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says that progress on new rules to strengthen the capital base of finance companies and related regulations does go in the right direction.

But, in the words of the author of the report, Adrian Blundell-Wignall, much of the focus in other areas, such as on bonuses, tackles “symptoms instead of causes” and “puts the cart before the horse”.

Instead the focus should be on matters which are scarcely being discussed. Among these issues are:

Preventing the spread of failure, or “contagion”, by erecting “firewalls” within financial companies;

Requiring the company risk manager to be on the main board with freedom to speak out without fear of the chief executive. This would ensure that boards were fully informed, and would focus more on the interests of shareholders rather than on their own incentive pay;

Ensuring that directors of financial companies are competent and understand their business, instead of meeting a requirement merely to have no criminal convictions as is the practice now;

And reforming national tax regimes in leading countries. This is because onshore tax incentives encourage the legal use of offshore entities and complex instruments to take best advantage of onshore tax allowances.

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