RBS announces bonuses despite losses
By politics.co.uk staff
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced £1.3 billion of bonuses despite revealing losses of £3.6 billion.
The bank is 84% state-owned after it was bailed out by the government towards the end of 2008.
Its chief executive Stephen Hester has promised to not take his bonus but the remaining bonuses have still triggered anger across the political spectrum.
“It’s hard to understand why £1.3 billion is being paid out in bonuses when RBS continues to make losses,” Lib Dem Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said.
“RBS rewarding individual bankers is like a football team paying their striker for scoring when they’ve just been relegated.”
George Osborne suggested the pay structure in the sector neeeded to be reformed.
“I would want the whole banking sector to reduce its level of pay,” the shadow chancellor said.
“You’ve got to do it across the banks, you can’t just pick on one bank.”
The scale of RBS losses was far lower than many analysts had expected, however, with forecasts of up to £5 billion losses for 2009 predicted in many quarters.
