RBS posts Q4 loss, but pays out almost £1bn in bonuses

Royal Bank of Scotland reported a £1.8 billion loss for the fourth quarter despite paying bonuses of £390 million to bankers in its investment division in 2011, the state-owned bank said on Thursday.

The fourth quarter loss was attributed to writedowns on assets and restructuring costs, said RBS, which is 82 percent owned by the government after a state bailout during the 2008 credit crisis.

RBS said staff costs at its GBM investment banking division, where it is cutting thousands of jobs, were £2.45 billion in 2011, down 9 percent from the previous year.

Across the bank, RBS paid out £985 million in bonuses, down 21 percent from 2010. Bonus payments in its GBM investment division for 2011 were down 58 percent from 2010.

The pay of RBS' executives has become a sore point for many Britons, who remain angered by the fact that bankers have continued to pay themselves large salaries while elsewhere thousands lose their jobs as the global economy weakens.

RBS chairman Philip Hampton and chief executive Stephen Hester waived their bonuses earlier this month after politicians from all of the major parties called on them to refuse the awards.

RBS shares closed down 3.1 percent at 27.33 pence on Wednesday - still well below the average 49.9 pence price at which the taxpayer acquired its stake in the bank and leaving taxpayers sitting on more than £20 billion worth of losses.



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