UPDATE 1-France to push G20 on bankers' pay

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By Anna Willard

PARIS, Nov 4 (Reuters) - France is worried at the lack of progress some countries have made in implementing standards on banking pay that were agreed at the G20 leaders meeting in Pittsburgh in September, a French official said on Wednesday.

The French will raise the issue at a follow-up meeting of finance ministers and central bankers this weekend in Scotland.

France has said it will shortly apply the G20 standards and wants the rules, which aim to discourage excessive risk taking, to be applied everywhere before 2009 bonuses are paid between February and March next year.

"We are quite worried over what's happening in the area of pay," the French official told reporters at a briefing ahead of the meeting in St Andrews on Friday and Saturday.

The news that eight major U.S. banks, which were at the front of the line for government bailouts during the financial crisis, have set aside $117.6 billion this year to pay employees, has brought fresh concern over bonuses.

Politicians in many countries have had trouble justifying the decision to pour state money into the banking system to help it survive with bankers still taking home huge bonuses while the public faces rising unemployment.

But banks say all countries must have the same rules or those in based in places with a more relaxed attitude will have a competitive advantage when trying to attract top staff.

The G20 agreed that parts of a bonus should be deferred, they should include a clawback mechanism and payment in the form or shares and stop multi-year guaranteed bonuses. Banks with risky pay policies should face higher capital charges.

"A few financial centres have started to spell out on a national level the way they will apply the standards set by the Financial Stability Board," the official said.

He said Britain had made some progress.

"The U.S. Federal Reserve has started a consultation on principles which have yet to be quantified, in other words, there is no commitment to a figure which would allow you to check that the standards...apply to all of the financial system, particularly investment banks," the official said.

The G20 agreed to check on progress in March 2010.

"It would be good if everybody speaks to each other and checks that all of these standards are applied without waiting for March 2010...because the bonus season is between February and March and so the 2009 bonuses will be paid before...March 2010," the official said.

"We need to check that has not been any misunderstanding about what we decided in Pittsburgh."

(Editing by Andy Bruce)