Just as the first City bonuses of the season are unveiled, a new report shows that if financial workers gave 5 per cent of their salary, or £4 billion a year, to charity, London would match New York in terms of philanthropy. The report, by centre-right thinktank Policy Exchange, argues that while bonuses are expected to be 16 per cent lower this year at £7.4 billion, due to the credit crunch, they still remain 400 per cent above levels of a decade ago, allowing for a considerable amount to be devoted to charitable causes. UK individuals give just 0.73 per cent of GDP compared with 1.67 per cent in the US. Even allowing for the fact that one-third of US giving is to religious organisations, the report concludes that the UK is not giving enough. It said that, despite a 25 per cent rise in personal wealth in the past 15 years, there has been a 25 per cent drop in Britons' charitable giving as a proportion of GDP. Moreover, it is the poor, not the rich, who give the greatest proportion of their wealth and, among the rich, it is those who have personal connections to charities who give the most. The report identified two major stumbling blocks to City giving - people are too preoccupied making London the financial capital of the world and too under-informed about how to give in a structured way. Multiple changes in attitudes and infrastructure need to take place. More City financiers and entrepreneurs need to be motivated to embrace philanthropy as a way of life that progresses with their careers, and it should be made easier for them to do so. Policy Exchange recommends that firms should "normalise" giving by providing charitable accounts to all employees when they join. It also wants HMRC, the UK tax authority, to allow companies to implement tax relief, a campaign to encourage people to give shares rather than cash and the City's professional bodies to introduce a gold standard for financial advisors who promote philanthropy as part of their advice.