RBS executives set to receive shares
(11 August 2015 – Scotland) The management team at Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are set to receive shares in the bank worth an estimated £2.5 million (A$5.2 million) as part-payments of the annual allowances handed to bankers to prevent their pay from falling as a result of the bonus cap.
The RBS payouts come a week after the government started to reduce its stake in the taxpayer-owned bank, falling to 73 percent from 79 percent.
It is expected RBS chief executive Ross McEwan will receive the last tranche of the 1 million shares he was awarded in August 2012 when he was hired from Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
The rest of the £2 million worth of shares will be handed to the executive team to overcome the European Union’s bonus cap which prevents banks from handing out bonuses bigger than an employee’s salary, or more than double it, if shareholders approve.
In February, RBS issued a statement about McEwan’s intentions towards the share allowances which said: “Ross McEwan has told the RBS board he does not intend to take the proceeds from his 2015 role-based allowance. Ross does not want this issue to be a distraction from the task of building a great bank for customers and shareholders.”
He is, however, due to be handed 95,318 shares, the last portion of the package he was offered in 2012 when he was lured from Australia to London to run the retail arm of the bank.
According to the bank’s latest annual report, these shares were included in his total pay for 2014 which showed he received £1.8m in total.
The shares are worth around £330,000 and were due to vest on 8 August.
This would suggest that a stock exchange announcement confirming they have been released to him is likely in the coming days.
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