socialmedian: RBS reports £2.1bn third-quarter loss

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Source: The Guardian

Nov 06, 2009

Summary

Staff costs at its investment banking arm have risen to £2.5bn - but anyone earning over £39k can't receive a bonus this year

Royal Bank of Scotland warned today that it would not meet the lending targets it had been set by the government as it reported a third quarter pretax loss of £2.1bn.

With bonus policies under scrutiny, the Edinburgh-based bank also revealed that staff costs in its investment banking arm had risen to £2.5bn, giving an indication of the size of the payouts bankers in this division can expect to receive at the end of the year.

However, as RBS is to be 84% owned by the taxpayer as a result of insuring £282bn of troublesome loans through the government's asset protection scheme, the bank has agreed not to pay cash bonuses to anyone earning more than £39,000, raising speculation that key staff at its investment banking division will leave. Any bonuses will be paid in shares or debt.

Stephen Hester, the chief executive whose own bonus is linked to achieving the lending targets, repeated today that the "journey" to recovery will "take some years"

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