The never-ending UK story about ex-CEO of Royal Bank of Scotland Fred Goodwin's pension rumbles on, with tonight's Evening Standard reporting that Sir Tom McKillop, Chairman of RBS, doubled the pension pot hours before Sir Fred's departure:
"Evidence to the Treasury select committee shows a 'compromise
agreement' drafted for Sir Fred had assumed he would not take his
pension until the age of 60. The agreement, drafted by lawyers Linklaters on 11 October last year, would have meant the RBS chief ended up with a
pension pot of £9.6million. But the deal was changed under the
instructions of former RBS chairman Sir Tom McKillop
to allow Sir Fred to take his pension at 50, effectively increasing the
pot to £21million. Sir Fred's departure was then agreed in the early
hours of 13 October."
Add this to the Telegraph's analysis of announcements by laid-off Sir Fred:
Summer 2006 Sir Fred Goodwin tells RBS board that the bank is not
involved in sub-prime lending
Late 2006 RBS Greenwich Capital thought to have begun buying
substantial amounts of American sub-prime mortgage assets
Early 2007 Citizens Bank, an RBS-owned bank in America, starts buying
sub-prime mortgages from other banks. The RBS board was not informed.
March 1 2007 Sir Fred Goodwin said to City analysts: “We don’t
get involved in sub-prime lending.”
April 2007 RBS annual report for 2006 said: “Sound control of
risk is fundamental to the Group’s business … Central to this is
our long-standing aversion to sub-prime lending, wherever we do business.”
April 13 2007 New Century Financial announces it had sold 2,000
sub-prime mortgages worth $47.3 million to RBS Greenwich Capital
June 5 2007 Sir Fred Goodwin said to City analysts: “We don’t
do sub-prime so we have not perhaps been exposed to some of the more
boisterous elements of the market that others have.”
Summer 2007 Sir Fred Goodwin tells board that RBS has multi-billion
pound exposure to sub-prime mortgage market
December 2007 RBS announces multi-million pound write-down in value of
sub-prime assets
and some folks might have a nasty taste in the mouth.
To remove it, Scottish politicians have worked out how to tax Sir Fred's pension at 100%.
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...
