Sir David Walker's recommendations on banking elicited a mixed reaction today, with some City critics arguing that they were counter-productive while others said that the proposals would make little difference and that would be "business as usual for bonuses".

Although the Government and the Financial Services Authority welcomed the proposals as a step in the right direction, City professionals were more circumspect.

Jon Dymond, of Hay Group, the remuneration consultancy, said that some of the pay recommendations were too prescriptive and that UK firms could be at a disadvantage compared with overseas competitors. There was a danger that the regime became one more box-ticking exercise, Mr Dymond argued. "This is precisely the opposite of what is needed," he said.

On the proposal for disclosure of pay bands, there was scepticism that this would have any deterrent effect on escalating pay.

Bettina Bender, a partner specialising in employment law for CM Murray, said: “It is difficult to see how published statistics of pay bands will do anything to limit or influence bonus payments made to key individuals in the banking and financial services sector. Despite the raft of reports and recommendations made over the last 18 months or so in the wake of the financial crisis, as far as bonuses are concerned, it seems to be very much 'business as usual'.”

However, many of the proposals would make a big difference to the way in which bank boards operate, City advisers said. Mathew Rutter, partner in Beachcroft, the commercial law firm, said: "Sir David's recommendations will require a big cultural change in many boardrooms, and a change in the role of the chairman and non-executive directors, in particular. In many cases, this will require a greater time commitment than has been the case in the past, and a more questioning mind on the part of [non-executive directors]."

Unite, the trade union with many financial services sector members, said that Walker was a start, but more radical action was needed. It said: "Without radical change, we risk seeing a repeat of the chronic mismanagement, recklessness and greed which has dominated the banking industry for far too long, and almost brought the country to collapse."

Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, said, "Sir David’s proposals are the blueprint for how banks must be run in the future." He promised to bring in the necessary draft regulations to enact the statutory element of the Walker recommendations in the new year.

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