Friday 3 April 2009

RBS: Sir Fred Goodwin 'Thinking About' Shredding His Pension

THE TELEGRAPH: Former Royal Bank of Scotland boss Sir Fred Goodwin - known as 'Fred the Shred' - is considering a "voluntary reduction" in his £703,000-a-year pension payout, the bank has confirmed.

Chairman Sir Philip Hampton said Sir Fred was thinking about the move, but said it was too soon to know what the outcome would be.

He said: "I've asked Sir Fred if he would consider a voluntary reduction and he's told me he's thinking about that."

The comments come ahead of the bank's annual general meeting in Edinburgh later on Friday, when angry shareholders are expected to vote down RBS's remuneration report in protest at Sir Fred's controversial pension payout.

RBS - now majority-owned by the taxpayer - also warned of more job losses in the UK and internationally as it said the 2,700 announced so far this year for the UK were "not the end of the story".

The embattled bank said it was still unclear how many redundancies would be made, but stressed it would do "all it can" to keep compulsory redundancies to a minimum.

The group is laying off staff as part of a plan to cut £2.5 billion from annual costs within the next three years. >>> | Friday, April 3, 2009