RBS pays new stars footballer salaries

13th Aug 2009 10:03

Government-owned lender Royal Bank of Scotland has splashed out over £10m on hiring two bankers, infuriating politicians anxious to clamp down on excessive pay and bonuses.RBS, 70% owned by the taxpayer after last year's multi-billion pound bail-out, is 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.Polverino will earn more than most Premiership footballers for his one-year contract, about £135,000 a week, similar to Chelsea and England captain John Terry.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. City watchdog, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), has come in for some serious stick after yesterday's watered-down code of conduct aimed at curbing excessive pay in the financial sector.Plans to base bonuses on the overall performance of the company, initially suggested in its March consultation paper, have been axed and will now only be regarded as 'guidance'.The regulator was under pressure from financial institutions to go easy. They feared star traders responsible for making them millions of pounds would flee the City for bigger pay cheques overseas.Many banks have started to rebuild staff levels as global stock markets and economic conditions improve. Earlier this week, stockbroker Collins Stewart said it had started hiring senior executives again across Securities, Corporate Broking and at corporate finance boutique Hawkpoint, to enable it to advantage of opportunities arising from the current market dislocation.