RBS pays £1m bonus to at least 100 staff
Updated on 25 February 2010
At least 100 senior staff at Royal Bank of Scotland are to receive bonuses of more than a million pounds each, but the company will not say exactly how many people will benefit.
RBS, which is 84 per cent owned by the taxpayer, has posted a £3.6bn loss for 2009, but intends to pay about £1.6 billion in bonuses.
In a press conference, the bank's chief executive, Stephen Hester and chairman Philip Hampton, today acknowledged that "more than a hundred" of its staff were receiving bonuses of more than £1m.
But they refused to give a figure.
RBS said its results were helped by profits made by its investment bankers, who needed to be paid the going rate. The bank said its bonus pot of 27 per cent of revenues was below that shelled out by rivals.
The bank reported the £3.6bn loss as it struggles to cope with the effect of toxic debt. However the result was better than early predictions. Some analysts had suggested RBS could post a loss of £5.3bn.
Last year, RBS was hit by a record deficit of £24.3bn - the biggest in British corporate history - because of the credit crunch.
UK Financial Investments, which manages the government's stakes in banks, has approved the bonuses, most of which will be paid to people working in the investment banking division.
Channel 4 News economics correspondent Faisal Islam points out that the exact number of bankers receiving bonuses has been published in the US.
He writes: "There is no excuse for these numbers not to be published here. They are a legitimate avenue of inquiry for taxpayers wanting to know just how much bailed out bankers need to be paid to leave RBS in a state where many tens of billions of pounds can be recouped.
"On top of that, it is clear that many of these bonus recipients did not repay similar bonuses from earnings from 2003 to 2007, which were the proceeds of what the FSA's Lord Turner has called 'illusory profits'."
RBS chief executive Stephen Hester has waived a reported £1.6m bonus, following widespread criticism of the bank's controversial reward plans.
Mr Hester said the bank had "exceeded all the principal milestones" set for the first year of its turnaround plan.
His decision not to take his bonus allocation comes after Barclays top bosses also said they would decline their right to payouts.
The RBS chief is in the midst of a five-year turnaround plan to restore the bank to health after taking on the job at the height of the financial crisis.
His remuneration package could reach £9.7m - which he has said even his parents think is too much - based on his efforts to restructure the bank as well as its profitability.
