Sir Fred Goodwin offers to reduce his RBS pension

Published on Thursday 18 June 2009 12:17

ROYAL Bank of Scotland today said former boss Sir Fred Goodwin had volunteered a "substantial reduction" to his controversial pension.

Sir Fred's annual payout will fall from 555,000 to 342,500 a year, after his pension pot is cut by 4.7 million.

Despite leading the bank to the brink of disaster, his overall pension package was worth 703,000-a-year, but Sir Fred has already taken out a lump sum of 2.7 million.

Chancellor Alistair Darling said: "I'm very glad that RBS have now resolved the matter with Sir Fred Goodwin.

"I think that Sir Fred, in handing back part of his pension, is doing the right thing."

Mr Darling, who was speaking during a visit to Sheffield, said: "What I want to do now is to make sure that we rebuild RBS and all its banking operations, that's absolutely essential, not just for the bank but for the thousands and thousands of people who work for that bank and for the economy as a whole."

RBS is now more than 70%-owned by the taxpayer after being hammered by the financial crisis, and reported UK record losses in 2008. Tens of thousands of staff have been culled at the bank so far.

Sir Fred has gone to ground since the huge "rewards for failure" row over his pension erupted earlier this year and his house in Edinburgh has been vandalised.

The bank's chairman Sir Philip Hampton said: "On any measure this represents a very substantial reduction to Fred's pension and is an acceptable amount to all parties to the discussion.

"I am very pleased that we have resolved a situation that has been a difficult and unhappy one for all the parties involved, and it is to Fred's credit that he has done this on a voluntary basis."

He added that the row was distracting from the task of recovering the fortunes of the stricken bank.

"This pension arrangement became a symbolic issue, and the focus of unprecedented media and political attention.

"It had to be fixed to allow everyone to focus our energies where they should be, on getting the company back to health," Sir Philip said.

The chairman added that an internal inquiry into Sir Fred's pension, conduct, expenses and use of company assets had concluded recently "there was no conduct on Fred's part that would justify reducing the pension".

But the former boss – facing pariah status – approached the RBS board himself to look again at the pension issue.

Sir Fred caused public outcry when he initially refused to make any change to his pension payout, despite his role in the near-collapse of the banking giant.

RBS disastrously bought Dutch bank ABN Amro at the top of the market in 2007 before the credit crunch struck.

But trade union Unite dismissed news of the pension reduction as a "small gesture".

Rob MacGregor, Unite national officer, said: "For the diabolical failure by Fred Goodwin which led to the near collapse of RBS, this small gesture represents only a fraction of the massive pension that he is walking away with.

"Goodwin will still enjoy a very comfortable future at the expense of the taxpayer."

Sir Fred's offer marks a major climbdown after he denied as early as April that he was considering any voluntary reduction in his pension.

He previously maintained he had a contractual right to the pension and he expected the bank to fulfil its obligations.

In a letter to City Minister Lord Myners in February, he insisted that changes to the early retirement deal he negotiated when he was forced out in the autumn were "not warranted".

But the bank and the Treasury have been taking legal advice on whether they can claw back some of the payment.

Sir Fred agreed to give up a year's salary lump sum which he was due in lieu of notice, as well as certain share-related awards, when he agreed to retire early as the Government stepped in to rescue the beleaguered RBS.

But there was anger over news that the RBS board chose to effectively double the size of his pension pot from 8 million to 16 million.

If he had been dismissed rather than leaving on agreed terms, his pension would have been substantially less, calculated at an estimated 416,000 a year.