The US Federal Reserve has rejected a recommendation that bonuses for finance executives should be paid according to a single global formula.

The Financial Stability Board, the global standards-setting body, suggested last month that 40 to 60 per cent of the bonuses paid to senior executives and others whose actions have a material impact on the risk profile of their companies should be deferred and paid “over a period of years”.

The Fed did not embrace the FSB's idea in its consultation paper, which was issued yesterday at the same time as the Obama administration's “pay tsar” announced a separate crackdown on compensation at seven bailed-out companies.

The Fed said that “for most banking organisations, the use of a single formulaic approach to making employee incentive compensation arrangements appropriately risk sensitive is likely to provide at least some employees with incentives to take excessive risks”.

The US central bank's approach is likely to fuel concern among bankers and regulators in Europe that new compensation regulations will be applied more flexibly in the US, resulting in an uneven playing field.

There are also concerns within the US about a contrasting regulatory approach to pay at the seven bailed-out companies, which yesterday received notice that their top executives' pay packages would be slashed.

Kenneth Feinberg pushed companies ranging from Bank of America to Chrysler to cut the cash component of the remuneration for their top 25 executives by an average of about 90 per cent. A bank lobbyist said the Fed's approach was a “refreshing” change from that of Mr Feinberg.