A top banker believes that a windfall tax on bankers’ bonuses could seriously damage the financial services sector in the UK.

Robert Diamond, chairman of Barclays, fears that such a move would damage competitiveness and contradict the principles the government have adopted in dealing with the financial crisis, he told Bloomberg.

He said: "It’s very important to recognise the importance that major financial centres are balanced in terms of regulatory efforts around capital, around accounting, and around compensation," the news provider reported.

According to a report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, Mr Diamond earned £250,000 last year, with his salary having fallen from £6.75 million in 2007, the London-based bank said in its annual report in March.

It is not yet clear what effect the windfall tax will have on finance graduate jobs.

Although it could initially create new opportunities if people leave for better pay elsewhere, if the move harms banks’ competitiveness in the long term it could limit the number of places on finance graduate schemes in the future.

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