Goodwin to return half of RBS pension

18th Jun 2009 12:32

Former Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin has agreed to hand back half of his lucrative pension.He will have his pension cut to £342,500 following months of talks with RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton and UKFI, the body that looks after the taxpayer stakes in the bailed out banks.Goodwin's overall pension package was worth £703,000 a year, but he has already reduced this by taking a lump sum of £2.7m from his original payout in February, reducing the annual payout to about £555,000.Hester has previously said that he would leave no stone unturned to recover some of the money.Goodwin, who left RBS last October after being forced to accept a £20bn handout from the government, quickly became the villain of the banking crisis after refusing to reduce his enormous pension.In March, windows were smashed at his Edinburgh villa along with those of a black Mercedes S600 car parked in the driveway. A group calling itself 'Bank Bosses Are Criminals' later claimed responsibility for vandalising the house.Goodwin has reportedly been living in a rented villa near Cannes with his wife and two children since.