RBS pays £10m in shares to 9 tip bankers Business

Royal Bank of Scotland, that had to be bailed out by taxpayers, has handed out new bonuses Photograph: Shaun Curry/AFP/Getty Images

Nine tip bankers at the Royal Bank of Scotland, that is right away infancy state-owned, have been handed free shares value a little £10m in a preference that could reignite the row over City bonuses.

The greatest singular endowment has been since to John Hourican, the new trainer of the investment arm of the loss-making bank, as a prerogative for mending opening at his division. He has been postulated 15.5 million shares, that are right away value £5.9m. That comes on tip of an additional big endowment of shares last year, when Hourican was handed 21.3m shares and the right to buy a serve 7.4m.

The new shares have been awarded at 37.9p and are piece of a £1.7bn reward pool the bank has set aside.

Last night, the Liberal Democrat"s Treasury spokesman, Lord Oakeshott, said: "This is grotesquely generous."

The distance of the reward pot was suggested last month when RBS disclosed a £3.6bn loss for 2009 – an alleviation on the record-breaking £24bn loss it done in 2008, the year it was bailed out by the the taxpayer. The UK supervision right away owns 84% of the shares in theEdinburgh-based bank and has the capability to halt the distance of the reward pool.

The avowal of the payout was done by RBS last night in a matter to the batch sell after markets had closed.

The head of the corporate bank, Chris Sullivan, was handed some-more than 1m shares, even though the bank unsuccessful to encounter lending targets. Paul Geddes, the head of the word commercial operation that is up for sale and suffered a thespian dump in distinction in 2009, was handed 792,000 free shares, whilst RBS maestro Alan Dickinson perceived 968,072 shares.

The majority comparison lady at RBS, Ellen Alemany, who runs the bank"s US interests, has been since 3.64m shares whilst Nathan Bostock, a new partisan who is attempting to sell the majority uneasy operations of RBS, has perceived 1.2m shares.

Stephen Hester, the RBS arch senior manager has staunchly shielded the need for the bailed-out banks to compensate bonuses, arguing that if he cannot keep the most appropriate people he will never be means to lapse £54bn of taxpayers income scored equally up in the bank.

He insists that RBS could have done an additional £1bn if it had not lost "thousands" of the banks" most appropriate staff in the past year .

Since the promissory note crisis, the headcount at the investment bank has forsaken from some-more than 24,000 to only over 16,000 – partly as a outcome of an mass departure of workers lured to rivals means to compensate money bonuses.

Under the conditions set out by the government, any one at RBS who earns some-more than £39,000 is incompetent to take a money arrangement in bonuses. Instead, all payments are done in shares and theme to clawback and, the bank argues, tie the worker to the bank for most years.

Hourican, for instance, is incompetent to sell the shares he has been awarded for five years. Others have to wait for 3 years.

RBS shares are right away becoming different hands at 40p and the taxpayer will not mangle even on the investment until they reach 50.5p. At that level, yesterday"s share handouts will be value £13m and Hourican"s sum share handouts to date will be value some-more than £22m.

In a matter last night, RBS said: "The house believes that the prospects of liberation are heavily contingent on carrying arrangement policies that are essentially reformed in make up but safeguard that high behaving staff are not disadvantaged by operative at RBS relations to alternative aspirant banks.

"All of the people endangered are new to purpose and have been charged with delivering the liberation plan for RBS. The awards are in shares and contingency be defended for a duration of up to five years to safeguard that staff and shareholder interests are aligned."

Hester"s share endowment sum were not in yesterday"s proclamation since he has waived the probable £2.4m of shares he could have received.The Barclays twin John Varley and Bob Diamond set the direction when they refused to accept their payouts. Eric Daniels, arch senior manager of the bailed out Lloyds Banking Group did not take the £2.3bn he was due, whilst rivals at HSBC and Standard Chartered have taken their payments but affianced to palm them to charity.

Such has been the insistence of banks to compensate bonuses that the Treasury is set for a asset of some-more than £2.5bn from the one-off 50% levy on bonuses over £25,000. The supervision put the taxation on in December, only as reward deteriorate was beginning.However, instead of becoming different the ardour between banks to compensate bonuses, the chancellor, Alistair Darling, has perceived a much-needed progress to the Treasury"s coffers as banks have instead swallowed the cost of the taxation rather than revoke payments to staff.

All the main UK banks have right away reported and each one has been forced to urge payouts to the employees. Even so a little banks sojourn defiant. HSBC, for instance, has handed the arch senior manager Michael Geoghegan – who gave his £4m reward to a range of charities together with one with links to his mother – an estimated £800,000 compensate climb only for relocating to Hong Kong. His prior income was £1m a year and HSBC has affianced to challenge shareholders and palm him a grave compensate climb by this time subsequent year.