At least two chairmen of leading global banks have asked the U.S. and UK governments to help them control bankers' compensation levels, Reuters Breakingviews has learned.

The chairman of a leading Wall Street bank said he had told President Barack Obama that he should organise an industry-wide crackdown on pay. The chairman of a top UK bank told Reuters Breakingviews that he had urged the British government to take a similar line to control bankers' pay.

Both chairmen, who were speaking on condition of anonymity, said government intervention was required because no bank could afford to take unilateral action to crack down on compensation out of fear that its best people would be poached by rivals that did not follow suit. They also said that they could not coordinate controls on pay themselves as this would flout anti-trust laws.

The bank chairmen said lower pay levels would help the industry repair its tarnished image and minimise the current political backlash against financiers.