Bank boss to get £1m he said he didn’t want

THE boss of Royal Bank of Scotland is facing a fresh row over fat cat pay as he prepares to collect a £1million windfall.

In a bid to avoid negative publicity when he took the helm in October last year, Ross McEwan said he did not wish to be considered for the pay-out in his first full year as CEO.

But the show of restraint from the New Zealander will cease next August, despite RBS being fined almost £400million last month for rigging the £3.5trillion-a- day foreign exchange market.

It is understood Mr McEwan has no intention of waiving a £1million shares windfall, equivalent to one year’s salary. It would take his maximum pay package for 2015 – including salary, pension and performance-related l ong- term bonuses – to almost £4million.

Last night one MP described the

‘Rotten to the core

with scandal’

award as ‘ wholly inappropriate’ and said Mr McEwan and fellow bosses should show some ‘moral backbone’ and forfeit their windfalls.

To get around the bonus cap, most major banks introduced additional payments – known as fixed ‘ rolebased’ allowances – on top of annual bonuses to ensure top executives are not left out of pocket.

The EU bonus cap limits banks to paying a maximum of one year’s fixed pay, rising to twice this if shareholders approve.

But the new pay-outs are guaranteed and count as part of an e xecutive’s basic pay package, pushing up the maximum bonus that can be awarded.

Last night one senior banking insider suggested Mr McEwan would be unable to waive his pay- out even if he wanted to, because this would breach ‘the spirit’ of the EU laws.

But John Mann, a Labour member of the Treasury Select Committee, described this as ‘nonsense’.

He said: ‘It is wholly inappropriate for a taxpayer- owned bank that’s mired in scandal to be awarding bonuses at all. Claiming that “Europe made us do it” is total nonsense. It’s about time these bankers showed some moral backbone.’

The UK’s big four high street banks have handed out £ 30million in share awards to top management this year.

The biggest award was at HSBC, which gave chief executive Stuart Gulliver £1.7million in share awards.

RBS handed out shares worth almost £5.5million to its ten most senior bankers – with the exception of Mr McEwan. His £1million windfall will be paid over five years.

Luke Hildyard, of campaign group the High Pay Centre said: ‘These bonuses are clearly not rewarding good behaviour as banks are rotten to the core with scandal and bad practice. All the efforts to circumvent the bonus cap and keep paying these huge bonuses show banks are being run in the interests of bankers.’

RBS declined to comment on Mr McEwan yesterday.