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A big story over the weekend was the fact that the bosses of the Royal Bank of Scotland had been awarded large bonuses. Given that the RBS was bailed out by the taxpayer and is largely owned (83%) by the government, this has caused a flurry of discussion!

The chief executive, Steven Hester was awarded a share bonus of £963,000.00. After being vilified in the press he has now decided not to accept the bonus.

If it had been me I would have kept it. Why should he be made out to be the bad guy? He was brought in to sort the bank out, he didn't send it down the pan. Surely the Board of Governors of the RBS should be under fire? After all, they negotiated his contract. If it was in his contract that he should receive a bonus, then why shouldn't he take it?
He is very well paid and I say good luck to him. I think all those who begrudge him his earned bonus are just jealous and wish they were in his shoes.

There is no way I would give a bonus back, to which I was legally entitled.

Would you? Now be honest!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16779585

I agree with you BM on this one.

He was awarded the bonus fair and square, it was not his decision to be given the bonus and he came in to head up RBS after it had been nationalised.

The fault (if any) is not with Hester. The tory-led government didn't have the balls to not allocate a bonus (as majority shareholder it does have a veto/say on bonuses, as far as I understand).

I think it is really bad form for the nationalised bank to give the guy a bonus and then put pressure for him to not take up the bonus. There was a question about this on last week's Question Time and the government ministers/MP on the programme were saying he should turn it down.

The argument that in midsts of austerity a publically owned company shouldn't give a bonus of that size is one argument, but to turn on the executive that was given the bonus is not right.

If it was down to me, I would not be in favour of the short term bonuses but would pay out bonuses that were linked to long term performance, and would vest in later years. This is not a new form of bonuses in the financial sector - a lot of firms have and had these types of bonus structures. The mega-bonuses post big-bang has a part to pay in the financial crisis, as it gave incentives for short-termism and excessive risks.

Cheers,

Shafique