Bank shareholders to ex-CEO: ‘Give back your pension’
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How would William Wallace have handled this?
Fed up shareholders at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group today voted more than 9-to-1 to, in effect, demand that former CEO Fred Goodwin give back his $1-million annual pension.
Goodwin, 50, has been the target of popular rage following his ouster last year, after soaring losses forced the bank to accept a bailout that gave the U.K. government a 58% stake in the company.
The vote rejecting Goodwin’s pay package was non-binding, as is typical with such shareholder measures. But it at least allowed investors to vent without resorting to physical violence -- unlike the vandals who stoned Goodwin’s home in Edinburgh last month.
From Bloomberg News:
Kenneth Watt, a shareholder from Helensburgh, Scotland, said he voted against the remuneration plan. ‘It was outrageous,’ Watt, 69, said. ‘There must have been alternatives.’ RBS says the pension payments were required by Goodwin’s contract. The bank has asked lawyers to review the contract and RBS is ‘leaving no stone unturned’ to see if any changes can be made, Chairman Philip Hampton said. In an interview before the company’s annual meeting, Hampton said he had asked Goodwin to give up a portion of the pension. ‘A voluntary contribution from him either to the bank or a charity, or whatever, would be well received,’ he said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. ‘He said that he would think about that. How deep his thoughts are I am not sure.’ Sky News cited unidentified sources saying that Goodwin isn’t considering the request. Phil Hall, Goodwin’s spokesman, declined to comment.
-- Tom Petruno