When will this posturing around bonuses translate into action?

With Hector Sants last week saying any obligation to curb City bonuses should lie with the government rather than the regulator, it's taken Alistair Darling a while to respond. However, now he's hinted at a relatively hardline approach, but it's debatable whether this will actually translate into imminent action.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, the chancellor said: "If we need to change the law and toughen things up, we can do that. I'm quite clear that some of the problems we have today were caused by the fact that some traders were incentivised to take risks which neither they nor their bosses fully understood."

He adds that the FSA code, which has largely been seen as something of a backtrack from the regulator's original stance, is only "part of our approach".

Barclays has also shown that guarantees are still on the agenda, with the Telegraph reporting on Saturday that it's offered 30m to lure five commodities traders from JPMorgan. This is likely to further fan the flames of public anger, particularly after the news last week that RBS is also paying guarantees.

Still, while it's easy to view Darling's words as a pledge for legislation on banking bonuses, it seems more like an attempt to placate the public in the face of a rising tide of anti-banker sentiment.

After all, he doesn't actually say he's going to make these changes, rather that the government "could", which in itself is going to generate headlines before any decisions have been made.

The FSA's watered down remuneration report was still seen as the regulator going out on a limb compared to its contemporaries elsewhere in the world and the government would be foolish to pass draconian regulations before any other major financial centre.

The whole point of the FSA adjusting its original proposals was that any 'prescriptive' restrictions would mean top talent simply exits the UK for another financial centre.

Obviously, the government still awaiting the results of Sir David Walker's review into whether there's a case for capping bonuses before taking action.

But any serious changes will have to be implemented in a globally coordinated way, and concrete legislative decisions are unlikely to be committed to until after the G20 summit of world leaders in September.