RBS rejects protests over £1bn bonus payout
ROYAL Bank of Scotland will ignore protests and award up to £1 billion in bonuses to its staff next month. The bank will pay out a combined total of between £950 million and £1 billion.
However, several RBS institutional investors believe that the bank should not be paying anyone a bonus while it is still loss making. Last year the lender made a pre-tax loss of £2.6 billion.
RBS has convinced UK Financial Investments, the Treasury offshoot responsible for taxpayers’ 84 per cent stake in the bank, that it needs to pay bonuses to retain staff and make profits needed to get it back into the black. All bonus awards will be deferred over three years and subject to clawback.
RBS this month revamped its executive incentive scheme to make it harder for chief executive Stephen Hester and finance director Bruce Van Saun to claim bonuses, following protests from institutional investors.