baser999

iTrader: (2)

Article in todays Telegraph stating RBS will still be paying out their bonuses despite all the public outcry etc. They're taking a 'back-door' route by making over shares instead of cash payments - the shares however can then be converted into cash in 12 weeks! RBS state that they've written to their shareholders detailing their plans - as the bank is 84% owned by the taxpayer, when will my letter arrive? Or do I presume the Chancellor will receive a letter 'on the taxpayers behalf' and 'leave it in the in-tray' until such time as the shares have been doshed out by which time it'll be too late to act

SunnySideUp

Don't get me on this again!!

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Neither the taxpayer or the Chancellor 'owns' RBS.

UK Financial Investments is a holding company that owns 84% of the shares. Legally it is a separate entity with no political leadership. It's capital is provided by HM Government.

So I suspect the letter is with UKFI.

Leslie

Rank greed!

Les

Lee247

I see they got it then
RBS bankers in line for £1.3bn bonuses as UKFI gives green light | Business | guardian.co.uk

Most of the Country struggling, people out of work, Companies closing by the shed load, people struggling to pay the winter fuel bill. I could go on.

Never mind, this lot will be cosy for a while. Makes me sick

hodgy0_2

that's great Trout maybe the HM Government can get some of this magical "Capital" and payoff some of our debt

Geezer

The Investment arm of RBS made over £6bn, and this is mainly where the bonuses will go.

Why shouldn't people who have worked very hard be rewarded if they can be?

People keep harping on about how £xbn of public money was pumped in to the banks, yet fail to see that a) it would be a lot worse if we hadn't and b) the public at large were quite happy to take ridiculous lines of credit and mortgages off these banks in the first place!

There are people who will undeservedly get a bonus, but that is always the case, don't let petty envy stop people who have worked very hard getting rewarded.

Geezer

Lee247

I whole heartedly agree with people being rewarded for hard work but I am in no doubt they will be on fantastic salaries too. I just feel the size of these rewards are excessive and in the face of people who are genuinely struggling to make ends meet. Which is a large chunk of the Country. Sorry, just my opinion of things. Nothing at all to do with envy.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Plenty of people work very hard, Paramedics, Fireman, Soldiers, Road Sweepers, Nurses, Doctors etc etc and I dont think any begrudges someone who has done well getting a bonus but its the size of the bonuses, hundreds of thousands of pounds months after the worst recession in living memory caused by the banks and the feckless.

People did take ridculous lines of credit, not everybody and these people were as daft as the institutions that lent them the money, it all being down to a disconnect between who gave the loan and who guaranteed it and pure greed, the institutions are more respnsible for it as they should know better than a cross section of the lower end of society.

Sometimes it feels like bankers in charge of the money is like putting Billy Bunter in charge of the Cake Shop, the potential rewards for performance I think is most of the reason for bankers pulling the stunts they did.

Ergo, they arent off the hook yet but it doesnt look like public opinion counts for a jot, the ones at the Halifax dont deserve anything as all my investements are worth less than three years ago when I took the out, I hope they arent getting a bonus, I dont get one if I dont do well at work.

Geezer

It's chicken and egg though, were the bankers just reacting to a demand, or did they create it? Either way, people didn't have to take it.

It's like drugs, just because they are there, not everyone takes them.

People seems to have a problem with people who have high paid jobs getting bonuses. However, these people are in highly stressful and pressurised jobs. I certainly wouldn't want one.

As for nurses, doctors, firemen etc. Well, they made a choice, or in the case of firemen, a more lucrative career may not have been open to them (that is not to demean firemen, but you don't need a degree in economics to pull people out of burning buildings).

It still smacks of envy, the rich shouldn't get richer. Well why not? It's not some inalienable right to make money, you have to work very hard or get very lucky!

The current attitude towards bankers, if applied to doctors and nurses, would have them all struck off if a few of them were accused of malpractice.

It just doesn't make sense.

Geezer

Diesel

If one part of my company was sinking fast and effectively going to put an end to the whole enterprise I would be very grateful to any public body people that gave me billions and saved the company and all its jobs. My primary duty would then become paying off that emergency forced 'gun-to-the-head' loan to them. All staff should breathe a sigh of relief that they still have a job and pension.

Why does that make no sense when you talk about banks? The WHOLE was insolvent and heading for catastrophe. No other business would get such privelge of unsecured help. They should immediately service the massive debt to the public who are paying INTEREST on that debt in a cash poor countrywith a dwindling international credit rating.

They should be thankful they have jobs let alone ridiculous bonuses. I've invested in mattresses such is my faith in the greedy grabby b's. Even when times are good more of their profit should clearly go to the investors as they are far too overpaid for simple maths and educated guesses. It aint rocket science is it - buy Greggs sell Ratners...people want pies in a recession, not jewellry

D

David Lock

I hate bankers and it makes me cross that they take home these huge bonuses. And there are plenty of people who work as hard with as much stress earning standard salaries.

But the fact is that bankers are clever b,astards and they have stitched up the banking and investment world so that bonuses and large salaries are the norm'.

These boys earned around £6 billion for their investment work and they would go elsewhere if they didn't get the big bucks. So the bank would be £6 billion worse off. So we just have to swallow hard and accept it, nauseating as it might be.

I am rather surprised that no one so far seems to have published their private addresses and their homes and families seem to have been left alone.

dl

Diesel

But David its one company. If the buses bit of a hire firm was sinking, and going to take everything else down with it, but the car hire side was thriving, what would they do? Go to the government?

D

hodgy0_2

Fred Goodwin had his house and merc vandalised

and I have heard reports of ordinary punters refusing to buy Bankers drinks in pubs -- so the fightback continues

warrenm2

god theres some ignorant knee jerking window lickers in here. How about reading this:-

RBS bonuses

Geezer

Indeed, and this is why the whole situation is ridiculous. People come out with tripe like "I hate bankers" without thinking about what that actually means.

Very few people cause the crisis, and it was in turn exacerbated by greedy borrowers and incompetent government.

Quite why all bankers are seen as pariahs is something of a mystery. Just a symptom of the "it's someone else's fault" that permiates modern society.

Without the profits of investment bankers, the losses would have been worse and more public money would have been poured in.

Don't let reality get in the way of a good SN witch hunt!

Geezer

ChrisB

I can't say I've ever made a habit of buying bankers drinks in a pub, for my rounds I usually stick to the people I'm out with.

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

What exactly have they done though to generate the £6bn? Didn't the stock market just bounce back as it always does ergo big profits?

TX.

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

How was the near collapse of the banking system my fault then? Were they not masters of their own destiny? I'm stunned that you think it's a mystery ...

TX.

Leslie

Would they be the same people who were buying up toxic debt in order to make lots of commission on the sales at the time until the debt all fell through the floor thus causing the recession. Do they really deserve bonuses having screwed it all up taking such enormous risks in the first place?

Les

jonc

Why do people keep banging on about bankers bonuses? If these people were in the same situation of receiving a substantial bonus they would not be complaining and wouldn't even consider handing a penny back!!

The irony is that the mentality of people complaining is no different to the people they complain about, hence why else would they say "..as the bank is taxpayer owned, where is *my* bonus...etc etc."

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Stephen Hester made a very important point in his announcements. Because of the knee jerk, window licking reactionaries, the status of bonuses at RBS was a major unknown for the past year.

Because of this a number of key staff left RBS due to the uncertainty and as a result RBS lost investment business that would have generated £1,000,000,000 in profit.

So for all the baying for blood the taxpayer has lost a potential £1bn plus in profit a year.

Geezer

Haha, yeah ok, it's soooo easy, go and make a few billion pounds then come back here and report how successful you are and how easy it was!

Ah yes, take a statement you know the intent of then try and make out you are holier than thou. I don't know you, you may be finanically prudent, if so good on you, but you know what I meant.

Bankers played a part in the disaster, but only a part, if a major one. This was a collective failure.

No, the investment bankers did not, they are not in the business of sub prime mortgages and dodgy commercial banking loans (a la HBOS, my delightful employers of past).

Do you deserve a bonus for screwing up? Certainly not, and I think you'll find the people who did have either been fired or fallen on their swords in the main part anyway.

Of course, many of them will have walked into other well paid jobs, and that sucks, but that is not the discussion here!

Geezer

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

No, I am wrong, million pound bonuses all round !

jonc

If it was that easy, we'd all be millionaires!! Who do you think drives the stock market? Besides, many banks have many types of businesses other than just trading on stocks and shares! A lot comes from fees from consultancy, for example, helping other businesses survive and see through the recession. These consultants can bring in millions of pounds worth of revenue for the banks. Should these people not be rewarded?

Leslie

Thanks for the explanation.

Les

Diesel

You just can't help loving these contrite arrogant to££ers can you! D

Lee247

Yes, the annonymous poster has just been found

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Touchy, you a banker perchance? Money makes money so yes it's as easy as I said. If I started with a few billion 12 months ago it would be 2 or 3 times that now, no hard work involved.

I notice that you didn't answer the question ...

TX.

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Chance? Randomness? FPMSL that you think bankers drive it

TX.