By Jonathan Davies
The UK's top bank bosses should be paid the same as top earning civil servants, according to David Cameron's former director of strategy.
Steve Hilton said that any bank that requires government bailout should be treated as a public sector organisation and it should be reflected in wages.
Top earners in the public sector earn between £100,000 and £200,000. But bank bosses are given multi-million pound salaries and bonus packages.
Mr Hilton said it would create a "powerful incentive" for banks to reform properly.
"The goal here is to create a much more secure financial system where you don't have these giant companies that pose a threat to the whole economy," he told the BBC.
Mr Hilton also called for more regulatory intervention in the banking system, and the supermarkets, which he says do not act in the best interest of customers and suppliers.
He said: "I think the competition authorities need to be much more aggressive generally and specifically where you have a concentration of power.
"They should be using their powers to make the market more competitive, now whether that is breaking them up or other means is for others to debate.
"The system ought to be geared to help the insurgents and not to protect the insiders."
