More mega bonuses at RBS

19th Aug 2009 08:45

Royal Bank of Scotland, 70% owned by the taxpayer, has raided the piggy bank again to keep a new non executive at the bank, paying £1m just as long as he stays there for two years.Brian Hartzer joined RBS from ANZ this week to run the bank's retail branch network and immediately receives a 'golden hello' of 1.99m shares. He must stay a couple of years before he can cash in his windfall and will get a further 2.83m shares, currently worth £1.3m, in 2012 if he hits performance targets.New head of risk and restructuring Nathan Bostock, a new recruit from Abbey, also gets free share options valued at £610,000 plus 2.3m options at 46.2p.RBS was in the news a week ago after it splashed out over £10m on hiring two bankers, infuriating politicians anxious to clamp down on excessive pay and bonuses. It's paying a mouth-watering £7m for one year's work from ex-Merrill Lynch bond trader Antonio Polverino. More millions have been used to lure Bank of New York Mellon's finance chief Bruce Van Saun to the UK bank. He raked in over £5m in 2007. Critics are angry that taxpayers' money is being spent so lavishly on staff pay less than a year after a £20bn government bail-out saved RBS from going under. RBS boss Stephen Hester, who took the helm in November last year, recently agreed a £9.6m pay deal. He gets £1.2m a year basic, an estimated £2m of annual non-cash bonus payments and up to a further £6.4m through share awards linked to performance, although RBS shares have to top 70p if he's to get all the money. Earlier this week, Compass, a left wing pressure group, called for the creation by the government of a High Pay Commission to launch 'a wide-ranging review' of the pay of top bosses and high earners operating in the world of finance.