Giving the Financial Services Authority (FSA) the power to tear up bankers' contracts could distract from more important issues, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has warned.

The financial services bill, which will be outlined in the Queen's Speech, is expected to give the FSA more power to act if individual contracts breach its code on remuneration.

However, Jon Terry, partner and head of reward at PwC, fears that a high-profile move like this could shift the spotlight away from other major issues.

Mr Terry said: "Any focus on new powers, which are likely to relate to a very small number of individual contracts, must not distract from the need to ensure all organisations' remuneration structures and processes are appropriately risk adjusted."

The bill might also have an impact on the forthcoming round of bonuses, even though the legislation will not be in force when they are announced, he added.

Recently, a study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research predicted that City bonuses worth 6 billion will be awarded in January 2010, 2 million more than this year.