After US, it is now Britain which is turning the taps off on perks for the chief executive officers and bankers, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown warning them that time was off on the current culture of "big bonuses".

"The old culture of big bonuses is gone," the prime minister told London bankers at a conference saying that the time was now to tighten the belt.

"No rewards for failure, rewards only for showing long term sustainable success," Brown told the bankers.

He told the board members of UK's leading banks who have received state bailout they would not receive cash bonuses this year, nor would banks pay or receive dividends.

Britain like the US has announced two tranches of bailout worth hundreds of billion of pounds, which have seen government taking major stakes in international banks like Royal Bank of Scotland and others.

The announcement and warning by Brown was handed out as reports said that Royal Bank of Scotland, which now is more than 65 per cent state owned was considering  paying its staff over pound 1 billion in bonuses, which sparked off public outrage.

The opposition Conservative have already launched a scathing attack on the government telling it to stop bonuses on taxpayers money.