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Stephen.Hester@rbs.co.uk
I'm sharpening my pitchfork and getting the bombers from the loft...
He gets pais £1.2 salary by the way.
Cameron said that 'a seven figure sum would be disasteful' but I guess £40,000 less makes it more palatable.
and he is personally shutting our local Nat west.
To be fair if he is only getting paid £1.2 as his salary then no wonder he wants a bonus.
Just need to make sure all these bonuses are paid out before we gain independance and we take the bank back with the shares starting to climb and get a nice windfall.
Thanks London.
The board decide his wage and bonus, not him. If you were in his position can you honestly say you'd refuse it?
The board decide his wage and bonus, not him.
And don't you think the government/taxpayer should have a say ? Since it's 82% owned by the taxpayer.
If you were in his position can you honestly say you'd refuse it?
Hardly the most compelling argument.
Think of the tax he pays on that .I dont blame him for one minute im jealous
If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. I'm sure he's only getting a fair package compared to leaders of other similar size organisations, public or private. But its easy to rant if you are the STW mob...hey ho...
Think of the tax he pays on that .
And just think how much the taxpayer would receive if all of RBS's profit went back to the taxpayer. Over a quarter of RBS's pre-tax profit is used to pay bonuses.
And you think its a good use of his or RBS's time to have eejits emailing him. Grow up and let him get on with it.
That's not even his email address.....
An organisation much smaller than RBS will have a team dedicated to answering 'letters to the boss'. The whole "email Bill Gates / Richard Branson / etc" idea is very short-sighted.
There's something ironic that the likes of Paxo (£1.2m / year just on BBC income) and David Dumbledork (£2.35m) typically earn more than Stephen Hester, and unlike him are self employed rather than employees, and thus pay significantly less tax than him.
It's amazing that the public gets so worked up about a guy that's actually doing a pretty good job at sorting out someone else's mess along with managing tens of thousands of employees yet gets paid less than his peers or the part-time TV "stars" who grill him about his value whilst earning more, having less responsibility and paying less tax.
The way it's heading, he'll be quite within his rights to get shot of the public criticism, take up a better paying role elsewhere and leave us to marvel at the fact we've saved a few quid on his salary and bonus at the expense of losing the billions of public money we put in to prop RBS up.
So what is it Druidh?
Farmer_john. At last, some sense talked.
If that's the going rate for someone with the skills to be in charge of a bank then what's wrong?
I wouldn't want to pay someone 50k and then the state owned company fails.
He's doing the job he's supposed to be doing, why should he not get the bonus he's supposed to get?
The treasury okayed it according to the news
.......at the expense of losing the billions of public money we put in to prop RBS up.
So if he goes, billions of public money will be lost ? Let's hope he doesn't get run over and killed while crossing the road tomorrow eh ? No doubt he gets accompanied everywhere by a team of fully equipped paramedics just in case of an emergency. Britain really would be up Shitcreek without a paddle if something were to happen to him. And all he asks in return is for lots of money. Bless him.
Well said Farmer John.
He's doing the job he's supposed to be doing, why should he not get the bonus he's supposed to get?
I guess they could quite equally look upon as a "penalty for failure" - do the job you're supposed to be you're doing and your pay will be X, but don't meet expectations your pay will be X less the "bonus"?
allyharp - Memberdon't meet expectations your pay will be X less the "bonus"?
At this level, and in that post, it's don't meet expectations and get unceremoniously and publically canned tbh. Though, I don't think there's any question that he's not meeting expectations.
Dear grizzpup,
Thank you for your email. On reflection, you're absolutely right and it is an excessively large amount of money. I'll be taking whatever a branch manager gets paid and returning the rest to the company.
Best wishes,
S Hester
i worked for Stephen when he was at British Land - one of the most talented individuals I have met.
He is doing a great job at RBS and deserves to be awarded, shame the politicians wont realise it until he leaves. Politics of envy!
it is all tied in to how well the company done during his employment, rising share price etc = bigger bonus. was all made very clear when he took the job with not much hoo ha in the press at the time.
I can't see the problem. He can only be getting his bonus if he's met clearly defined goals
The person we should be having a pop at is the person who set the goal:
Could you manage to halve the share price of this huge taxpayer-owned bank in the space of 12 months?
opf course he deserves a reasonable salary. couple of hundred thousand sounds like a lot to me.
all teh nonsense about comparisons with other companies - its all about how much power you have to grab as much of the riches as you can.
UK companies pay to senior people has grown at an accelerating rate and far faster than inflation and far more thanother countries.
Its a disgrace that he gets 2 million a year - there simply is no possible justification for that at all.
teh answer to super high wages - super high taxes.
this is taxpayers money he is taking
TJ - what do you do and how much do you earn?
I am a nurse, I get £14 an hour.
No one is worth 2 million a year.
so, what if i said a nurse is not worth 14 per hour?
Exactly. Like any other employee, he will have a contract in which his employers have set out his remuneration.binners - Member
I can't see the problem. He can only be getting his bonus if he's met clearly defined goalsThe person we should be having a pop at is the person who set the goal:
Imagine if he was a postal worker / teacher / tube driver and his employer told him he wasn't going to get what they'd agreed to pay him. All the lefties would be up in arms.
so, what if i said a nurse is not worth 14 per hour?
You'd be talking out of your arse.
Only this morning,I took a call from "RBS Mentoring Services", asking to speak to the myself.
Turns out they were offering exactly this!, MENTORING!
We have been a succesful business for 21 years who have had to put up with these retched bastards as as our bankers, inparticularly over the last 6 years.
I kindly told the young lad on the phone that I dont need to be mentored by a failed, bailed out firm that I actualy own! and then advised him I was too busy trying to cope with my 3rd RBS bank manager in 16 months and the fact our 3rd facflow manager in 12 months was leaving this Friday.
1/4 of the banks profits in bonuses. how is that justifiable? This money should be goin gto the taxpayers who own most of the bank
+1 for FarmerJohn. There's a market for people who want to/ are able to run huge multinationals, and if you don't pay a market rate you won't get someone suitable to do the job. Hester won't be at RBS for the money - there are undoubtedly other jobs out there with less media scrutiny and public interference for the same/ more money.
How you influence the market rate is an entirely separate question from how you pay the chief exec of what still is one of the world's biggest banks, and something that IMO needs to be tackled, but making a pariah out of someone who has come in to refloat a sunken ship isn't going to help.
Imagine if he was a postal worker / teacher / tube driver and his employer told him he wasn't going to get what they'd agreed to pay him. All the lefties would be up in arms.
Yep, like they were over public sector pensions...is changing a banker's reward package via contractual bonus really much different from changing a public sector worker's reward package via pension rights?
1/4 of the banks profits in bonuses. how is that justifiable? This money should be goin gto the taxpayers who own most of the bank
What's your source for that TJ?
FWIW, the bonus of £963,000 is in shares. Sort of gives him an incentive to improve things eh?
2/3 of NHS trust budgets are for salaries - how is that justifiable?
78% of statistics are gathered by cats on scooters with clipboards
TandemJeremy - MemberIts a disgrace that he gets 2 million a year - there simply is no possible justification for that at all.
Are you sure TJ, haven't these people got at least 3 brains each ?
As for FarmerJohn's nail-hitting talents, perhaps he should share his wisdom with the leader of the Conservative Party who happens to agree with me and TJ that the City of London bonus culture is wholly unacceptable.
[url= http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/19/us-britain-economy-cameron-idUSTRE80I1JL20120119 ]UK's Cameron says bank bonuses "out of control"[/url]
Then afterwards perhaps he could make the argument that a handful of very special people are saving Britain to the leaders of all the other political parties, and the rest of the British people. 'Cause there's surprisingly few people who appear to agree with him - whatever their political persuasion.
Stu_N - Member
=1 for FarmerJohn. There's a market for people who want to/ are able to run huge multinationals, and if you don't pay a market rate you won't get someone suitable to do the job.Hester won't be at RBS for the money
am I the only one to see the illogical nature of this? We have to pay the market rate to attract these people but he is not in it for the money?
😕 🙄
I'm sure you could have got an RBS boss for less. Andy Hornby was available...
Hester joined RBS to sort out the mess left by Fred Goodwin. He's been doing a good job. As CEO of a major organisation £2.4m is way below the market rate. I honestly don't know why he bothers given all the negative publicity associated with the job.
Poor fella. 🙁

