RBS directors could quit over £1.5bn bonus pot

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) directors could resign if Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, demands they review plans to pay bonuses totalling £1.5 billion to the group’s investment banking staff.
According to its legal advisors, the Board of the majority state-owned bank is duty bound to ensure the business is run profitably in the interests of all shareholders.
With RBS’s investment banking division on track to post profit of £6 billion in 2009, the directors are arguing that £1.5 billion in bonuses is needed to ensure that the best performing staff are retained
However, the Treasury is claiming the right to intervene in the matter, in the interest of the taxpayers who have bailed out the bank.
Last year, RBS paid £900 million in bonuses to its investment banking staff.