Royal Bank of Scotland Rejects Protests Over £1 Billion Bonus Payout

Royal Bank of Scotland will ignore protests and award up to £1 billion in bonuses to its staff next month. The bank will pay out a combined total of between £950 million and £1 billion.

However, several RBS institutional investors believe that the bank should not be paying anyone a bonus while it is still loss making. Last year the lender made a pre-tax loss of £2.6 billion.'

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Goldman Sachs Set to Pay £3.5bn in Bonuses

Goldman Sachs, the world’s biggest investment bank that is now assailed by accusations of fraud, is poised to reignite controversy over bankers’ bonuses by paying its staff more than £3.5 billion for just three months’ work.'

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Banker Bob's £63 Million Jackpot: Anger and Disgust as Scale of City Fat-Cat Culture Hits New Record

One of Britain's richest bankers has landed a record pay package of £63.3million. The extraordinary deal for Barclays president Bob Diamond sparked a major new row over payouts to banking fat cats. The sheer size of his salary, perks and shares package flies in the face of assurances that Barclays and other banks have adopted a culture of restraint.

MPs reacted with disgust, with one saying the behaviour of bankers had gone beyond all 'comprehension and decency.'(Pot calling kettle black)
The news suggests the banking sector is still in denial about its culture of excess, even after nearly £1trillion of taxpayer funding was committed to supporting it. Unlike Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds, Barclays has not taken direct injections of cash from the Treasury. But it has benefited from Bank of England guarantees and support for firms' finances.'

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Ailing Banks May Require More Aid to Keep Solvent

Some of the nation’s large banks, according to economists and other finance experts, are like dead men walking.

A sober assessment of the growing mountain of losses from bad bets, measured in today’s marketplace, would overwhelm the value of the banks’ assets, they say. The banks, in their view, are insolvent.

None of the experts’ research focuses on individual banks, and there are certainly exceptions among the 50 largest banks in the country. Nor do consumers and businesses need to fret about their deposits, which are federally insured. And even banks that might technically be insolvent can continue operating for a long time, and could recover their financial health when the economy improves.'

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Goldman Sachs: Record of $23 Billion in Bonuses for 2009; Explaining Their Economic Parasitism

Goldman Sachs is among the most visible financial parasites. Their executives have a revolving door through the US Treasury Department. They profit through “trading,” much like Enron did; including selling investments represented as AAA while simultaneously betting the value of those investments tank. Their CEO says they’re “doing God’s work,” as Enron’s CEO said, “We are on the side of angels.” A US Senate report puts the parasitic cost to Americans at $2 to $4 trillion every year. To put that figure into perspective, that’s an almost unbelievable $20,000 to $40,000 added cost per US household every year. Goldman Sachs is so happy with their “trading,” they’ll pay out a record of $23 billion in bonuses to their top employees for their 2009 work.'

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Obama Feigns Outrage Over Bonuses, Then Approves Bigger Bailout for Bonus-Givers Fannie and Freddie

The Obama administration pledged Thursday to provide unlimited financial assistance to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, an eleventh-hour move that allows the government to exceed the current $400 billion cap on emergency aid without seeking permission from a bailout-weary Congress. The Christmas Eve announcement by the Treasury Department means that it can continue to run the companies, which were seized last year, as arms of the government for the rest of President Obama's current term.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac disclosed that they had received approval from their federal regulator to pay $42 million in Wall Street-style compensation packages to 12 top executives for 2009. The compensation packages [include] up to $6 million each to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's chief executives.'

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Barclays Investment Bankers in Line For 150% Pay Rises to Ease Bonus Tax Pain

Bankers at Barclays are being given massive pay rises to compensate for the 50 per cent bonus tax. Up to 23,000 investment bankers have been awarded rises of as much as 150 per cent - apparently planned before the bonus tax was announced in Alastair Darling's Pre-Budget report.'

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Goldman Sachs Threatens UK Government Over Bonuses

Goldman Sachs (GS) has threatened the UK Treasury with plans to move up to 20 per cent of its London-based staff to Spain in a standoff over tax and bonuses.'

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GOOD FUCKING RIDDANCE!!!

Bankers 'Ducking and Diving' to Save Their Bonuses From the Windfall Tax

Bankers across the City are trying to change the terms of their pay deals to avoid Alistair Darling’s threatened bonus tax on their earnings.

Financiers are in frantic talks with their employers, having moved swiftly over the past few days to try to avoid punitive taxes on their bonuses.

The City is scared that Mr Darling will use today’s Pre-Budget Report to announce such a one-off levy. And high earners have rushed to make contingency plans with their employers, lawyers and accountants.'

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Government Backs Down on Veto of Banker Bonuses

A fresh row over City bonuses is set to engulf ministers after it emerged last night that 200 executives at Lloyds, the partly state-owned bank, are set to receive one-off payments worth up to 80 per cent of their annual salaries.

They will receive the money for integrating Lloyds with HBOS, which has led to more than 11,000 job losses at the combined bank since January.

It comes amid signs that the Government will not stop Royal Bank of Scotland, which is 70 per cent owned by the State, from paying massive bonuses to 20,000 investment bankers.

The Treasury had indicated earlier this week that it would veto a £1.5 billion payout to executives, a 50 per cent rise on last year.

But Gordon Brown and Lord Mandelson stepped back from confrontation after the RBS board threatened to resign.'

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RBS Board on Brink as Treasury Prepares to Veto £1.5 Billion Bonuses

The Treasury signalled last night that it was prepared to veto a £1.5 billion bonus pool at Royal Bank of Scotland in a move that could trigger the resignation of the bank’s board.

RBS directors have been advised by the bank’s lawyers to resign if a Treasury bonus veto means they are unable to run the bank commercially and in the best interests of all shareholders.

People close to the Treasury signalled last night that Alistair Darling would throw out any bonus plan at RBS that was much higher than last year’s £1 billion.'

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CIT Bankruptcy: Taxpayers Stiffed on Company's Bailout Billions While Execs Reap Bonuses

If people were pissed off about AIG's temporary decline and permanent bonuses, CIT's bankruptcy ought to enrage them.

The giant lender to businesses is heading for a quick in-and-out in bankruptcy court, and when it emerges, taxpayers will be the ones who have gotten the ol' in-out: CIT won't have to repay its $2.33 billion TARP bailout.'

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