RBS's Hester gives up bonus

Stephen Hester, the Chief Executive of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), will not accept his bonus share award, according to several reports on Monday morning.

The decision follows the opposition Labour party threatening to force a vote on the issue in the House of Commons. Under the terms of his contract, Hester is due an award of RBS shares worth around £963,000 based on the price of RBS shares at the end of January.

The UK tax payer owns 83% of RBS, for which it paid the princely sum of £45bn.

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There had been mounting political anger at a tax payer funded bank handing out a bonus to an employee who already receives a salary of £1.2m.

The award was agreed in recognition of Hester's moves to "de-risk" the bank, which back in 2008 almost collapsed after borrowing too heavily and failing to refinance its debts.

Over the last 12 months the stock is broadly flat although over the last five years RBS has lost 96% of its value.

BS