Ex RBS chief to give up half of pension

Former RBS (RBS) chief executive, Sir Fred Goodwin, has given in to public pressure and agreed to hand over £4.7 million of his much-talked about £17 million pension.

There has been much hostility towards Sir Fred with regard to his controversial pension entitlement, since he and former ex-chairman of RBS, Sir Tom McKillop, were both blamed for the near collapse of the bank.

RBS had to be bailed out last autumn to the tune of £20 billion, which left the bank 68% state-owned.

RBS announced the deal today under which Sir Fred, will now draw a £342,500 inflation-protected income for life, revised from the original £555,000.

However, he will keep the £2.8 million lump sum given to him earlier this year.

Sir Fred, along with other senior executives of major UK banks, have been the subject of public outrage in receiving large sums of money for failure.

While the decision was welcomed by politicians, it failed to pacify the thousands of bank workers who have already lost their jobs or are fearful over their future job security.

Sir Fred was also blamed for the purchase of Dutch bank, ABN Amro, which took place on the eve of the credit crisis. However, he and Sir Tom have since admitted this was a “big mistake”.

Since the departure of Sir Fred, the bank has announced 9,000 job losses as it endeavours to get back on track following its 2008 year loss of £24.1 billion - the largest annual loss in UK corporate history.

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