RBS Boss Lottery Win
Friday 27th January 2012
PAYING RBS BOSS A BONUS OF NEARLY A MILLION POUNDS LOOKS
TO ORDINARY PEOPLE LIKE HE HAS WON THE LOTTERY – WITH A TICKET THEY
PAID FOR SAYS GMB
By paying this bonus for a year when
Mr Hester has not had any special achievements other than a fall in
the share price Government is saying that the going rate to run a
bank in the UK is £2.2m a year
GMB commented on the payment of a bonus of
£963,000 to Mr Hester, the boss of RBS.
Paul Kenny GMB General Secretary said
“Mr Hester is already paid a salary of £1,200,000 to do
this job.
Paying him a bonus of nearly a million
pounds looks to ordinary people like he has won the lottery – with
a ticket they paid for.
This week the Government said that
shareholders should take responsibility to set proper pay levels
for a company’s top managers and to curb excesses. David Cameron
and Nick Clegg represent the taxpayer shareholders. By paying this
bonus for a year when Mr Hester has not had any special
achievements other than a fall in the share price Government is
saying that the going rate to run a bank in the UK is £2.2m a year.
They have nailed their colours to the mast on this. We should have
less guff from them about “everyone being in this
together”.
End
Contact: GMB Press Office Rose Conroy on 07974 251823 or Steve
Pryle on 07921 289880 or Kamaljeet Jandu, GMB National
Officer on 07956 237 178
Notes to Editors:
Report in daily telegraph today;
In a statement on Thursday night, the bank said Mr Hester
would get a bonus of £963,000 as the taxpayer-backed lender bowed
to political and public pressure to ensure its chief executive was
not handed more than £1m.
However, the bank admitted Mr Hester was still potentially
eligible for an award under a long-term incentive plan (LTIP) worth
as much as £4.8m.
This means his total pay package for last year including his
£1.2m salary and £420,000 pension could reach £7.38m.
If Mr Hester were to receive his maximum LTIP grant it would
take the total value of the awards made to him since he took over
as chief executive in October 2008 to about £27.5m.
The actual value of these awards is likely to be
substantially lower than this due to the collapse in RBS's share
price over the last 12 months