Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Banks can keep paying capital-markets staff “in a competitive way” while applying Group of 20 bonus guidelines inspired by French rules, BNP Paribas SA Chief Executive Officer Baudouin Prot said.

“There’s no devil in this matter and actually the rules evolution, which is important, won’t prevent us from continuing to remunerate market operators in an equitable and competitive way,” Prot, who holds the rotating presidency of the French Banking Federation, said at a press meeting today in Paris with French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy led a push to clamp down on pay in the financial industry, prompting G-20 leaders to commit to deferred payments of bonuses and an end to guaranteed payouts at a summit in Pittsburgh in September. The rules are intended to reduce the risk of future financial crises and assuage public opinion after governments were forced to bail out their financial systems last year.

“I will ask my fellows at the Saint Andrews meeting to apply all the rules that have been decided upon in Pittsburgh,” Lagarde told journalists today.

French banks changed “dogma” on bonus pay and are “concerned by those not applying” G-20 rules, Prot said. “The level playing field in this matter is absolutely vital,” Prot said.

French bankers, including Societe Generale SA Chief Executive Officer Frederic Oudea and Prot, bowed to pressure from Sarkozy and agreed to new rules on traders’ pay in August. France passed a law Nov. 3.

Under the French rules, guaranteed bonuses will be limited to one year, at least half of bonuses will be deferred, and at least 50 percent of the bonus will be paid in shares, the Paris- based French Banking Federation said in an e-mailed statement today.

To contact the reporters on this story: Fabio Benedetti-Valentini in Paris at fabiobv@bloomberg.net; Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 5, 2009 10:59 EST