David Cameron: No 'Revenge' on Bankers
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Voters must stop seeking to “take revenge” on banks and accept they are vital to the economic recovery, David Cameron has said.

Mr Cameron said he understood public anger over bonuses. Photo: The Daily Telegraph
Signalling he is prepared to defy public opinion, the Prime Minister indicated he will reject demands for punitive action on bankers bonuses and admitted his approach could be unpopular.

Taxpayers are “rightly angry” about bankers getting huge bonuses, Mr Cameron said.

But he insisted he will not court short-term popularity by trying to “hammer” the financial sector.

Instead, he said, the Coalition will try to strike a balance between heeding calls to impose tough rules on the banks and allowing them to get on with lending to British businesses.

“It’s about getting the balance right. It’s not going to be easy and it won’t satisfy everybody,” Mr Cameron said.

"But we’ve got to try to work for that balance rather than just think, let’s take revenge on people because they’ve made us mad as hell."

City investment banks are beginning their bonus season, informing staff about their payments for 2010, with total bonuses expected to be £7 billion.

It emerged yesterday that JP Morgan, a US bank, will pay £1.87 billion in salary and bonuses to its London staff. They will enjoy an average payout of £234,180.

Other large payments will be announced in the coming weeks, including bonuses at state-owned RBS. >>> James Kirkup, Political Correspondent | Friday, January 14, 2011

THE SUNDAY TIMES: Golden goodbye for bank bosses: Outgoing chief executives at HSBC, Lloyds and Barclays will pocket millions from highly lucrative advisory contracts >>> Iain Dey | Sunday, January 16, 2011 (£)

Mark Steel: We Owe It to Bankers to Feel Their Pain
THE INDEPENDENT: At last someone has dared to defend the oppressed people of the banking community. Bob Diamond, chief executive of Barclays, who himself has to suffer the trauma of an £8m bonus, said yesterday that the bankers' "period of remorse and apology should be over". And you feel his pain, because the first words to cross your mind when you see a banker are "remorseful and apologetic". Then you're left worrying, "Oh, how I wish the poor souls were slightly less burdened with remorse about their bonus, and didn't apologise with such agonising sincerity about putting it into their wife's name in a series of untraceable accounts based in uninhabitable islands off Ecuador."

But at last they've learnt to stand up for themselves, and Bob Diamond has emerged as their Martin Luther King. Soon the whole banking community will declare: "Say it out loud, I'm 27 million quid in the black and I'm proud." >>> Mark Steel | Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Cameron* Says Banks 'Should Pay Smaller Bonuses'
BBC: Prime Minister David Cameron has called on banks to pay smaller bonuses this year.


Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr show he said banks should be more "socially responsible".

The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is majority-owned by the taxpayer, should not be "leading the way" on bonuses but should be a "back marker", he said.

However "micro-managing" the banks was not the answer, he added. >>> | Sunday, January 09, 2011

* Cameron talking baloney! He’ll never do anything about bankers and their despicable, excessive bonuses. He is weak and cowardly. – © Mark

Fury as Banks Pay Out Bonuses of £7 Bn
DAILY EXPRESS: BRITAIN’S bailed-out banks sparked outrage last night as it emerged they are about to pay £7billion in bonuses.

The nation’s five largest – Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds TSB and Standard Chartered – are on the verge of issuing bumper payouts to staff.

Barclays is expected to lavish £2.5billion in bonuses while taxpayer-owned RBS is thought to be considering a bonus pool of over £1billion.

Signalling a return to pre-recession payout levels while ordinary families suffer, a think-tank estimates City bonuses for 2010 at £7billion.

Last night banks were accused of failing to change their “culture of greed and excess”. RBS – which is 84 per cent state-owned after a £45billion taxpayer bailout – is said to be considering a £6.8million package for chief executive Stephen Hester.

After foregoing a £1.6million bonus last year, Mr Hester, who admits even his parents think he is paid too much, is expected to accept the windfall. >>> Martin Brown | Monday, January 10, 2011

Another £6bn for Goldman Bankers: They're Picking Up an Average of £350,000-plus
MAIL ONLINE: Goldman Sachs is today expected to earmark almost £6billion for its annual salary and bonus pool, handing staff a 15 per cent pay rise.

The windfall means Goldman bankers will take home an average of £356,000 this year.

Many senior deal-makers and star traders will pocket seven or even eight-figure packages, despite the bank's pivotal role in the financial crisis.

The payouts - to be confirmed in the group's financial results for the first half of the year - are likely to anger taxpayers here and in the U.S.

They come days after the Wall Street giant agreed to pay a £356million penalty to settle one of the most explosive fraud cases in U.S. banking history.

Goldman cut a face-saving deal with America's financial watchdog after it was charged with tricking clients into buying an investment that was designed to collapse.

Government-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland lost about £550million in this way, effectively leaving British taxpayers out of pocket.

Goldman is expected to set aside as much as 45 per cent of its first-half turnover for salary and bonuses.

Although markets have been shaken by the eurozone debt crisis, Goldman's turnover is forecast to hit £13.2billion, meaning £5.9billion will be channelled into the pay pool.

For the typical worker at Goldman, this equates to some £178,000 for just six months work. >>> Simon Duke | Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Why Doesn’t Somebody Jail These SOBs?
TIMES ONLINE: The chairman of Britain’s biggest state-owned bank has defended multimillion-pound salaries for senior staff, despite widespread objections.

Sir Philip Hampton told the BBC Today programme that although banking sector remuneration was “astonishingly high”, staff at Royal Bank of Scotland would leave unless they were paid the market rate.

Politicians in each of the main parties have called for caps on bankers’ bonuses and Sir Philip — whose bank is 83 per cent owned by the taxpayer — has a difficult task in persuading the public that they are justified.

Sir Philip conceded that it was difficult to defend the pay gap between most people and some bank staff, but he told the BBC: “If we don’t pay our top people, they leave very quickly. Our top people are very much in demand and we have seen a significant loss of our top people.” RBS chief Sir Philip Hampton defends 'astonishingly high' bankers’ pay >>> Helen Power | Friday, April 30, 2010

Once Again, the French Are Leading the Way*! French Billionaire Antoine Zacharias Faces Criminal Trial Over Pay Deal
THE TELEGRAPH: A French millionaire [billionaire?] has become the first person in the country to go on trial for being paid too much, in a ground-breaking move against "corporate greed".

Antoine Zacharias is facing criminal charges. Photo: The Telegraph
Antoine Zacharias is facing criminal charges despite the £90 million pay and pension deal being approved by his company’s directors.

He is accused of misusing funds by accepting the money to run Vinci, the world’s biggest construction company.

The sum was set by a remuneration committee chaired by Quentin Davies, Britain’s junior Defence Minister.

Mr Zacharias, 71, is the first French industry captain to face criminal charges over earnings and faces up to five years in prison and a fine of £336,000.

French bosses are anxiously awaiting the outcome of the two-day trial at the court in Nanterre outside Paris, as a guilty verdict could lead to a wave of prosecutions in France over executive pay.

France is notoriously mistrustful of its patrons, and the country was hit by a wave of “boss-nappings” last year in the wake of the financial crisis.

Under French law, company bosses can be prosecuted for misusing funds. However, this is the first time a case has been brought against someone who appeared to have acted within company rules on pay.

Hailed as France’s boss of the decade by the Harvard Business Review, Mr Zacharias transformed Vinci into a construction powerhouse, raising profits by more than 300 per cent and turnover by 81 per cent in six years.

But in 2006 he was ousted by his number two, and successor, who accused him of corporate greed. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Thursday, March 25, 2010

*We, the British, should follow suit, as should the Americans. In fact, this should happen wherever corporate greed is a problem. What about jailing and punishing severely those fat cat, greedy bankers? Five to ten years in the slammer would do them a world of good. It would sober them up. They would become examples for all the others just waiting to milk (shouldn’t that be cream?) the system. You’d soon find that corporate greed would become a thing of the past if these ‘can’t-get-enough-types’ were put through their paces in clink. Let the show begin! – © Mark

HSBC Hands Top Banker £9 million Bonus
TIMES ONLINE: One of the biggest bonuses seen this year for any London-based banker was revealed today as HSBC announced it had given Stuart Gulliver, its head of investment banking, a £9.8 million package.

Mr Gulliver was awarded a £9 million bonus on top of his £800,000 base pay for his "exceptional performance" in trebling the profits of his division to $10.5 billion, HSBC said.

The payment came as Michael Geoghegan, HSBC chief executive, confirmed that he will give his £4 million bonus to charity.

HSBC disappointed investors after full-year profits fell by 24 per cent to $7.1 billion (£4.7 billion) following a big write down of the value of its own bonds. Its shares lost more than 5 per cent, down 37.1p, to 682.46p. >>> Patrick Hosking and Catherine Boyle | Monday, March 01, 2010

MPs Blast 'Ridiculous' Pay in RBS Bonus Row
TIMES ONLINE: Politicians rounded today on Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), the state-owned lender, over its decision to pay up to £1.7 billion in bonuses to bankers despite making a £3.6 billion loss during 2009.

The bank announced today that it would pay investments bankers from a £1.3 billion bonus pool while other staff would share in a £400 million reward.

George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, said that bankers’ pay had reached “ridiculous levels”, adding: “We have just got to look at the whole banking sector and try to bring this pay down.”

RBS’s loss for the 12 months to December 31 is less than the £5 billion expected and far below the £24.3 billion loss that RBS reported for 2008, a record for any British company.

But Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said: “RBS rewarding individual bankers is like a football team paying their striker for scoring when they’ve just been relegated."

RBS is 84 per cent owned by the British taxpayer after receiving billions of pounds of rescue funds from the state during the recession to save it from collapse.

The UKFI, the body set up by the Government to manage the state’s investment in British banks, yesterday granted RBS permission to pay the bonuses. >>> Francesca Steele | Thursday, February 25, 2010

Thanks for the Bailout! Wall Street Bonuses Up 17 Percent: DiNapoli
NEW YORK POST: ALBANY, N.Y. — Wall Street bonuses were up 17 percent to over $20 billion in 2009, the year taxpayers bailed out the financial sector after its meltdown, New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said today.

Total compensation at the largest securities firms grew beyond that figure and profits could surpass what he calls an unprecedented $55 billion last year, DiNapoli said. That's nearly three times Wall Street's record increase, a rate of growth that is boosted in part by the record losses in 2008 of nearly $43 billion, the Democrat said.

"Wall Street is vital to New York's economy, and the dollars generated by the industry help the state's bottom line," said DiNapoli. "But for most Americans, these huge bonuses are a bitter pill and hard to comprehend. ... Taxpayers bailed them out, and now they're back making money while many New York families are still struggling to make ends meet." >>> AP | Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Stephen Hester Lines Up £1.6m RBS Bonus
RBS cheif executive Stephen Hester. Photograph: The Sunday Times
THE SUNDAY TIMES: Taxpayer banks set to report £12bn losses as bosses agonise over their big bonus payouts

STEPHEN HESTER, chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, is in line to collect a bonus of up to £1.6m despite the bank posting losses of several billion pounds.

Talks over the bumper payout are expected to reach a conclusion within days and could be announced alongside the bank’s results later this week.

Although the 49-year-old has yet to make a final decision on whether to accept the pay deal, it is understood that the conditions in his contract would permit a large payout.

The deal comes amid continuing controversy over bonuses at taxpayer-backed banks. RBS, 84%-owned by the state thanks to huge injections of government funds, will confirm this week that it is to pay out £1.32 billion in bonuses to its investment bankers.

Lloyds Banking Group is expected to award £200m to its staff and is on a collision course with investors over a bonus for Eric Daniels, its chief executive.

The payments come against a stark financial backdrop at the two banks. Lloyds and RBS are expected to post combined losses of about £12 billion this week, following enormous charges for bad debts. >>> Iain Dey and Dominic O’Connell | Sunday, February 21, 2010

Even My Parents Think I'm Overpaid, Admits RBS Chief Executive
THE GUARDIAN: But Stephen Hester tells MPs that although his bonus package could be worth up to £10m, it is currently worthless as shares in the state-controlled bank have failed to rise

Stephen Hester giving evidence to the Treasury select committee today. Photo: The Guardian
Stephen Hester, chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, admitted today that his parents believe he is paid too much as he stressed that his bonus package was currently worthless because the bank's shares had failed to rise.

Asked by the Treasury select committee of MPs whether he understood why the government wants to restrict bonuses at the state-controlled bank, Hester replied: "Yes".

He insisted that the bank did not yet know the size of the bonus pot that would be split between its 22,000 investment bankers. Hester also revealed that a "handful" of highly paid bankers would avoid the restriction placed on the bank not to pay cash bonuses to anyone earning more than £39,000 because of legal commitments made to them.

He told the MPs, who are also taking evidence from his counterparts at Lloyds Banking Group and Northern Rock, that his "biggest single business problem" was recruiting people who were concerned about the criticism they might encounter if they work for RBS.

Institutional investors had "raised concerns about our ability to keep and motivate good people".

The bank would not tell staff whether they will get a bonus and how large it would be until the end of February, he said.

The Treasury has a power to veto bonuses at the bank under the terms of insuring £282bn of troubled loans through the asset protection scheme (APS). Hester insisted no board directors have threatened to resign as a result of this restriction and insisted he wanted to pay "the minimum possible while keeping staff engaged".

Of his own pay deal, which is linked to the RBS share price but could be worth almost £10m over three years, Hester said: "If you ask my mother and father about my pay they'd say it was too high as well, so some people close to me have that view of bankers." >>> Jill Treanor | Tuesday, January 12, 2010

THE GUARDIAN – BUSINESS BLOG: Bank pay row reaches a crescendo: Banks are preparing to snub the politicians and begin a bumper bonus round later this week. First they have to brave a few final assaults: Obama's threatened tax in America and the House of Commons Treasury committee >>> Dan Roberts | Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Addicted to Bonuses: The Fat Slobs at RBS Just Can’t Get Enough
Bonus showdown: Stephen Hester, Chief Executive of Royal Bank of Scotland. Photo: Mail Online
MAIL ONLINE: Royal Bank of Scotland directors were accused of holding taxpayers to ransom last night over plans to pay huge bonuses.

The board has threatened to resign en masse if the Treasury blocks the payments.

The row is over an estimated £1.5billion bonus pool for staff at the investment arm of the bank, which is largely owned by the public.

The pool is around 50 per cent bigger than last year and would give 20,000 bankers the equivalent of three times the national average salary each.

The Treasury has demanded a veto, following the taxpayers' £45billion bailout of the Edinburgh institution, but board members say their lawyers tell them they would have to resign if they lost the power to set pay levels.

It is an astonishing challenge to the Government, whose stake in the bank is set to rise to 84 per cent in the coming weeks.

Liberal Democrat spokesman Vince Cable said: 'I would welcome their resignations as they cannot hold the taxpayer to ransom. It's absolutely right that the government should impose bonus discipline on this bank.'

'As a state-run bank, the Government must finally take control and ensure that both its pay and lending practices are in the public interest.' Held to ransom by the bankers: Bosses at RBS (Yes, YOU own it) threaten to quit if they can't dole out huge bonuses >>> Simon Duke | Wednesday, December 02, 2009

THE TELEGRAPH: Lord Myners: 5,000 bankers earn more than £1m: At least 5,000 bankers will earn more than £1 million this year, according to the Government's City minister Lord Myners. >>> Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor | Wednesday, December 02, 2009

The Barefaced Greed of Bankers and Their Bonuses Beggars Belief
THE TELEGRAPH: City pockets are bulging with bonuses, says Boris Johnson. Have the banks no shame?

Photo: The Telegraph
If you pressed a rifle into the hand of the man in the street and asked him to choose between two targets – an MP or a banker – who do you think would get the bullet? Tricky, eh? It is hard to know which of these two formerly respectable professions has fallen further in public esteem.

Some people might hesitate, like Buridan's ass, the rifle barrel weaving indecisively between two such luscious hate-objects. Most people would simply call for two bullets.

But then let me ask you a slightly different question. Which of the two species has managed to steer itself most effectively through the crisis? Which type of cockroach has scuttled through the nuclear blast of public disapproval? On the face of it, there is an obvious answer, and it is getting more blatant by the day.

Most of the MPs I know seem to be in a state of nervous collapse. Some of them are on suicide watch. Some of them face the task of sacking their wives and selling the house, or possibly the other way round. Some face penury. Never has Parliament been subjected to such protracted humiliation at the hands of the people.

Then look at the bankers, the bankers whose high-rolling risk-taking triggered the recession that has so exacerbated public rage at MPs. The bankers seem to be waltzing off with a song on their lips and their hands in their pockets – at least, their hands would be in their pockets if they were not stuffed with money. And when I say stuffed, I mean bulging, bursting, ballooning with the biggest bonuses you ever saw.

London estate agents say they cannot believe the wheelbarrows of dosh that are suddenly crashing through their doors. Savills says the number of buyers from the financial services sector has risen by 48 per cent in the third quarter of this year, purely in the expectation of yet another ginormous Christmas bonus.

A knuckle-cracking realtor in Knight Frank's Kensington office says he has never seen anything like it: email after email from the boys and girls at Goldman Sachs. "We did our first Goldman's deal in June," he tells the FT, "and we are now doing five times as many for its employees as for any other bank." >>> Boris Johnson | Monday, October 19, 2009

Lord Myners: Bankers Still Paid 'Far Too Much'
THE TELEGRAPH: Lord Myners, the City minister, has launched an extraordinary attack on unrepentant bankers and their “unacceptable” bonuses.

Lord Myners is a former City fund manager. Photo: The Telegraph
Bank chiefs have failed to show “contrition or humility” over their role in the global financial crisis and are still paid “far too much,” the minister said.

Even though the Government is the majority shareholder in several major banks, Lord Myners attacked “inadequate stewardship by the owners of the business” and accused owners of failing to control bankers’ pay.

Gordon Brown and his ministers have repeatedly promised to curb excessive pay in the City, but in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Lord Myners said bankers continue to enjoy “unacceptable” pay deals because of the “poor policing” of City firms.

“I think the top cadres in the banking industry are [still] paid far, far too much,” Lord Myners said. “They are over-rewarded for the skills they have, and the reason this is allowed to continue is inadequate stewardship by the owners of the business.”

After bailing out the British banking sector, the Government owns around 70 per cent of RBS and 43 per cent of Lloyds Banking Group. The state also owns Northern Rock and Bradford and Bingley.

Stephen Hester, the Treasury-appointed chief executive of RBS, has a £9.6 million contract which has been criticised by opposition parties and trade unions. Other financiers at the state-controlled bank have also received large pay deals.

It emerged last month that RBS has paid multimillion-pound “golden hellos” to senior bankers. One, Antonio Polverino, has been guaranteed a £7 million payment for a year's work. >>> Mary Riddell and James Kirkup | Friday, September 18, 2009