British officials have admitted that their “supertax” on bankers’ bonuses has failed to change the behaviour of big financial institutions, as banks opt to pay the charge themselves rather than reduce their bonus pools.

UK Treasury insiders say the 50 per cent tax on bonuses of more than £25,000 (€27,700) is now expected to raise a net figure of £1 billion.

This is almost double the £550 million the government estimated when the levy was announced last month.“The general thrust is that the banks will pay the tax,” said one government insider. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010)