* New rules to be finalised this summer -regulator
* Firms must run annual checks on staff -regulator
* Wheatley says rules not 'heads on sticks' strategy
* Lawyer says senior bankers 'under real pressure' (Adds further details)
By Matt Scuffham
LONDON, March 16 (Reuters) - Senior bankers will be presumed guilty until proven innocent under strict new rules proposed by British regulators seeking to hold individuals accountable for bank failures and quell public anger towards the industry.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on Monday announced details of a "presumption of responsibility" rule which requires senior managers to demonstrate that where a firm is guilty of misconduct they "took such steps as a person in their position could reasonably be expected to take" to avoid it happening.
The proposals are in response to a widespread ire over scandals such as the rigging of benchmark interest and foreign exchange rates. This has exacerbated the negative perception of the industry among Britons for whom the 66 billion pound ($99 billion) taxpayer-funded bailouts of RBS and Lloyds are still fresh in the memory. Many Britons complained that no senior bankers faced criminal action for those failures.
"Today's policy measures are an important step in ensuring that regulators have the tools at their disposal to hold individuals to account and they build on the cultural change we are beginning to see in the boardrooms of firms across the country," FCA Chief Executive Martin Wheatley said on Monday.
The outline of the new rules was already known, with new powers being put in place to jail bankers for up to seven years for reckless misconduct.
"The FCA's draft rules on taking action against individuals make it clearer than ever that the reversed burden of proof will put senior managers at banks under real pressure," said Simon Morris, financial services partner with law firm CMS
However, speaking at an event hosted by Bloomberg, Wheatley said the new rules did not correspond to a "heads on sticks" strategy.
"There is no sense in which we will use this for some form of institutionalised scalp-hunting," he said. In fact, our expectation is that the heightened accountability will reduce the need for individual pursuits by regulators."
Wheatley said bank directors were already determined to reform the industry. "Boards are spending significant amounts of their time on culture and regulatory issues. Some boards are saying they spend up to 70 or 80 percent of their time debating these issues," he said.
The new regime was born out of recommendations made by parliament's Banking Standards Commission, which was set up to find ways to improved culture and conduct within the industry.