Hot on the heels of the news that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will have to conduct a forced sale of some of its well known brands (eg Churchill) and that a further 3700 jobs (on top of the 16000 already lost) will have to go, RBS have also announced that it will be deferring the bonuses of higher paid members of staff (over £39K per annum) and board members until 2012.
RBS and Lloyds will defer bonuses in return for an additional £40BN of our money.
Part of the bonus payments will be deferred, and part will be paid in shares; ie there is no "bonus cut" as such, merely an adjustment as to how and when the bonuses will be paid.
Given that these two banks are in a complete mess, I don't fully "grasp" how it is that any senior manager is entitled to receive a bonus.
I would also note that by paying part of the bonuses in shares, the current shareholders will find their holdings diluted, and the management will be incentivised to talk the value of the shares up in future in order to maximise their personal gains.
Is this really an improvement in the corporate governance of these two failed banks?
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