Greed is Good(win) redux
April 4, 2009
Directors of the Royal Bank of Scotland are to be rebuked by shareholders over their pay and pensions at the bank’s annual general meeting in Edinburgh.
A government agency, as majority shareholder, will register the public’s anger at the pension awarded to former chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin. Sir Fred resigned in October after the bank needed a government rescue but was still given a £703,000-a-year pension.
However the bank does not have to accept shareholders’ demands.
In February RBS reported it made a loss of £24.1bn in 2008 – the largest annual loss in UK corporate history. Following a huge input of taxpayer’s money to rescue the bank, the government now owns a 68% stake in the lender.
RBS has become the focus for public anger at the scale and expense of the finance sector’s excess after Sir Fred presided over the bank’s collapse and his settlement came to light. It is against this backdrop that the new team at the top will face shareholders later.
- BBC News
