Co-op salaries

I have long been a satisfied customer of the Co-operative Bank, with its excellent customer relations and aspiration to ethical practice.

For that reason I was very disappointed to see that despite substantial losses last year, its chief executives have had their considerable salaries doubled under “retention fees” (your ­report, 10 March).

Of course, the sums are not as grotesque as many of the larger banks are paying to their top people, and, unlike them, tax money was not claimed to ­finance these payments.

However, it is doubly disappointing to hear that the Co-op is following the other banks in providing the justification that you need to pay these people huge sums to retain their skills.

The real question is whether paying these sums to those in charge of our banks ensures that their stewardship of our money is driven by wisdom and responsibility rather than greed.

I would have hoped that the Co-operative Bank would be more sensitive when it is making lower-paid employees ­redundant and in a society where the gap between rich and poor in Britain is now wider than it was when Charles Dickens wrote Oliver Twist.

(Rev Dr) Iain Whyte

Carlingnose Point

North Queensferry