Champagne's on us, says bank

Published on Sunday 21 June 2009 23:14

BAILED-out bank the Royal Bank of Scotland is spending tens of thousands of pounds on corporate entertaining at Wimbledon, it has been revealed.

Customers will enjoy fine dining and champagne courtesy of the bank as they watch the tennis championships at the All England Club.

RBS is now more than 70 per cent owned by the taxpayer after being hammered by the financial crisis. It reported record UK losses in 2008 and tens of thousands of staff have lost their jobs.

It was reported that the RBS corporate hospitality package for SW19 is costing up to 300,000.

A leaked e-mail describes the bank's booking of an "entertainment suite" for more than 42 guests for each of the tournament's 13 days, at a cost of at least 19,500 a day. In addition, the bank will pay up to 100 for each Centre Court seat and 75 a head for lunch, according to the paper.

A spokeswoman for RBS was unable to confirm the costs but said the deal had been a long-standing agreement and pointed out that customers rather than staff would be attending.

She said: "We fully recognise that as we get our house in order we need to be seen to change the way we operate.

"We have cut our hospitality by 90 per cent this year to recognise the reality of our situation.

"The cost of the Wimbledon event is already sunk in and contracted. We are using it to support our charity partners and customer relationships which are vital to our success."

Earlier this week, former RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin bowed to public pressure and offered to hand back more than 210,000 a year of his controversial pension payout.

The former chief executive who led the bank to the brink of disaster "volunteered" to reduce his pension payout from 555,000 to 342,500 a year. Sir Fred's pension deal – a 703,000-a-year package including a 2.7 million lump sum – caused outrage.