LONDON (AP) - British Treasury chief Alistair Darling said yesterday that a crackdown on bankers' bonuses needed to be a concerted international effort and that the issue would be discussed at a meeting of Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers here next month.

With rewards for excessive risk-taking and short-term gains blamed by many for the current financial crisis, Mr. Darling joined his French counterpart Christine Lagarde in leading a push among the G20 nations to find a collective way to limit bonuses.

"Banks need to responsible about pay and bonuses and one of the things that is concerning me is that when you tackle banks about this they say that if you do something here, the Americans, the Swiss, or the French...will poach our people," Mr. Darling told BBC radio.

"This is something that I think we do need to tackle overall and it will be discussed by the G20 finance ministers in September," he added.