RBS faces fury for Hester share awards
Royal Bank of Scotland has come under fire after handing £1m in shares to former boss Stephen Hester, who was leading the company while alleged foreign exchange rigging was taking place, it emerged on Monday.
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Hester, who quit as the chief executive of RBS last year amid a row with Chancellor George Osborne, received shares earlier this year and is said to be due to get more, likely to be worth around £2m, early next year under long-term incentive plans.
Politicians have urged watchdogs to crack down further on the banking sector after the UK's Financial Conduct Authority announced last week that it was fining RBS, HSBC, Citibank, JP Morgan and UBS a combined $3.4bn to settle allegations of rigging the foreign exchange market.
The regulators found that between January 2008 and October 2013 the five banks failed to adequately train and supervise foreign currency traders, leading to traders at the banks forming groups that shared information about client activity, using nicknames such as the Players, the Three Musketeers and One Team, One Dream.
Hester, who is now the chief executive of insurer RSA, had to waive bonus payments when he was the chief executive at RBS after the British taxpayer bailed it out in the financial crisis, leading to the government taking an 81% stake.
One lawmaker described Hester's payment as "outrageous" and said he should not receive any more rewards.
An RBS spokesman declined to comment.
RBS shares were down 1.2p to 375.4p at 10:20 in London.