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| Bankers fill their boots |
BOSSES of Britain’s bailed- out banks will get multi-million pound bonuses — despite the PM’s vow to curb them.
Banks will get round the rules by paying their fat cats shares instead of cash,
When the banks recover, shamed bankers like ex- HBOS chief Andy Hornby and former RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin will cash in millions.
RBS has slashed its cash bonuses by 90 per cent, from £1 billion to just £175 million, after Treasury pressure. But the bank is quietly paying around £600 million in deferred shares, and other banks will follow suit. Sir Fred is believed to hold 694,665 RBS shares. If their value rise to September 2007 levels they will be worth over £4 million.
Mr Hornby is said to have 860,855 shares in the merged Lloyds Banking Group. At September 2007 price they will be worth a staggering £4.7 million. Labour MP John Mann, who is on the Commons’ Treasury Committee, said: “The first people who should benefit if these banks are turned around with taxpayers' money should be the taxpayer.”
The City is poised to pay out a whopping £3.6 billion in bonuses for 2008. Some will get round the clampdown by paying in GOLD BARS or awarding even bigger bonuses later on.
Meanwhile, a government bid to boost bank lending is on the brink of failure because the banks are too BROKE to sign up. Banks can insure their bad loans with taxpayers’ money to protect them against future losses.
But analysts estimate struggling RBS would have to shell out a £8 billion fee to insure £200 billion of toxic assets. Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays will struggle to pay.
And it emerged last night that Bank of England chiefs have splashed almost £200,000 on foreign trips over the last three years.
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