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In advance of tomorrow’s UK budget, next weekend’s G20 meeting, and the likelihood of further measures to curb banking pay and profitability, here’s a quick roundup of where we are right now in terms of global banking punitive rankings. Notably, the most worst place so far is probably Holland. However, the EU is keen on coming in close behind.

1) Holland

Dutch banks adopted a new voluntary code of conduct in September last year, which included capping bonuses at 100% of salary and limiting redundancy pay to one year’s salary.

The Dutch finance ministry has held up the code as an example to the rest of the world.

2) The European Union

At present, there are no-EU restrictions on bonuses, but this could change. Earlier this month, the European Union’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee voted in favour of new rules, including capping directors’ salaries at €500k, preventing directors from receiving bonuses until taxpayer funds have been repaid, limiting cash bonuses to 6% of the total bonus, deferring at least 40% of any bonus for five years, and…capping bonuses at 50% of pay.

The measures are expected to be watered down by the European Commission, but there is plenty of support for them in the European Parliament, so the issue may resurface.

The European Union is also expected to propose a transaction, or ‘Tobin’ tax at this week’s G20 meeting. President Sarkozy has indicated that he and Andrea Merkel are prepared to implement it unilaterally.

3) Italy

Italy has introduced an additional 10% on personal income tax levied on all bonuses exceeding three times basic salary. This is immediately effective for compensation paid from 31 May 2010.

4) The UK

The UK adopted the G20’s September bonus proposals enthusiastically, prompting then City minister Lord Myners to claim in November that the UK was at the cutting edge of the G20 and the EU in terms of bonus reform.

Specifically, the UK Financial Services Authority requires that 40-60% of bonuses for people earning more than £1m or in ‘significant influence functions’ are deferred over three years, and that 50% is paid in shares or share-based instruments.

Multi-year guarantees are also outlawed, except in contracts negotiated before March 2009.

The UK’s 50% bonus tax elapsed in April 2010, and a replacement looks unlikely, with the coalition government expected to favour a levy on banks’ balance sheets instead.

5) France

Following last September’s G20 meeting, the Federation Bancaire Francaise agreed to: ban guaranteed bonuses lasting more than 1 year; defer at least 50% of bonuses (and 60% for the highest bonuses) for at least two years on average; and introduce clawbacks.

The French government also introduced a one off tax of 50% on 2009 bonuses above €27.5k. However, this was a one-off and there has been no talk of repeating it. President Sarkozy has been one of the main exponents of a transaction tax.

6) Switzerland

Not long ago, Swiss banks were faced with the scary-ish prospect of all bonuses above $1.9m being non-tax deductible. However, this now appears to have been quietly shelved.

In the meantime, Swiss bankers have more pressing issues to worry about. Reforms currently being negotiated in the Swiss parliament will require banks to hold twice as much capital according to UBS, a measure that could clearly impact productivity.

7) Germany

Last week, the German Bundestag approved a law allowing the German banking regulator, BaFin, to reduce or deny bonuses at banks or insurance companies in financial difficulties.

Angela Merkel backs a transaction tax with Sarkozy.

8) Ireland

Ireland's banks have needed no encouragement to curtail bonuses over the last 18 months, with many cancelling them entirely as well as freezing base pay.

Now, as outlined the Central Bank's report released yesterday, it has plans to regulate it more closely. Initial suggestions show that it intends to follow the EU's lead.

Remuneration is likely to be tied to the long-term performance of the business; there will be an "appropriate balance" between fixed pay and bonuses, and any variable compensation will be deferred over a number of years and should also be assessed on a combination of financial performance and non-financial criteria.

More details will be unveiled in a consultation document due to be released in September.

9) The US

After last September’s G20 meeting, the US declined to impose prescriptive requirements regarding deferrals. Instead, the Federal Reserve unveiled a set of compensation rules in October, including fairly self-evident requirements that banks establish and maintain, “incentive compensation arrangements that do not encourage excessive risk-taking.”

US banks which have yet to repay TARP funds are constrained by the dictates of the, ‘pay tsar’, who is able to veto bonuses. However, most investment banks, Citigroup included, have now repaid in full.

More worrying currently for banks in the US is the financial reform bill, and in particular the dreaded Section 716, which originally proposed that banks wanting FDIC insurance or using the Fed’s discount window should spin off their derivatives units into affiliates separate from the bank holding company.

However, as Economics of Contempt points out, Lincoln’s proposal has been substantially watered down. And Baseline Scenario argues that the financial reform bill is dead on arrival.

10) China

Under rules issued by the China Banking Regulatory Commission in March, Chinese banks, trust companies and financial units of other government-owned enterprises must withhold at least 40% of bonuses for top executives for a minimum of three years. They can recover payments if poor performance causes losses.

Bonuses will be capped at three times an executive’s salary, and the criteria for assessing them will be based on a range of factors, such as a bank's business performance, social responsibility, and risk management, which includes bad loans. The regulations are part of a wider Chinese Government crackdown on rash lending by banks.

11) Hong Kong

In March, The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) issued its Guideline on a Sound Remuneration System,which it expects to be fully implemented by the end of the year.

The ‘guideline’, which applies to both local and foreign authorised financial institutions, states that a ‘substantial proportion’ of executive bonuses should be awarded in the form of shares or share-linked instruments.

In order to better manage compensation standards, banks should establish remuneration committees for board-level oversight, and have a written salary policy for all staff. Wages need to be in proportion to employees' seniority and responsibility, and guaranteed minimum bonuses to senior bankers should be granted only under exceptional circumstances, with approval from remuneration committees.

12) Singapore

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued its Corporate Governance Regulations and Guidelines consultation paper in March. The guidelines aim to boost the existing governance regime in the wake of the financial crisis, but they do not set out any eye-catching, Singaporean-specific restrictions on bonuses.

13) Dubai

In April last year, the Dubai Financial Services Authority said it had no plans to regulate salaries or bonus payments for the "foreseeable future."