Niilo Jääskinen, one of the European Court of Justice's nine advocate generals, has made a crucial pronouncement against the UK’s bid to overturn the EU ‘bonus cap’ in his court.

Niilo Jääskinen, one of the European Court of Justice's nine advocate generals, has made a crucial pronouncement against the UK’s bid to overturn the EU ‘bonus cap’ in his court. Although this 'opinion', as it is called, is not legally binding, commentators are taking this as a devastating blow against the British initiative. The British Broadcasting Corporation describes it as a 'clear lead' to the other judges.

Last year, HM Government went to the European Court to fight against the EU's decision to cap the bonuses that bankers were to receive in future. Its arguments were that the new rules were framed hastily as a 'knee-jerk reaction' to the banking crisis that was, and is still, engulfing the world, and that they would have a deleterious effect on 'responsibility.'

One respected compliance guru told Compliance Matters: "In this country we rely very heavily on invisible exports. Without financial services we really are a broken country. So we have to pay for the best minds and if they don't come here they'll go to Singapore or Hong Kong! Every one of us negotiates the best position that we can for our contract. If you make it punitive, you just get brain-drain away from the UK."