NatWest ‘won't forget the lessons of the past’

THE chairman of NatWest has vowed not to forget “the lessons of pre-2008” on senior staff bonuses when the bank returns to full private ownership, 16 years after being bailed out by the UK Government.

- SION BARRY Business editor [e-mail]

Rick Haythornthwaite, speaking at the bank's annual general meeting (AGM) in Edinburgh on Wednesday, said the bank had now “fixed the issues of the past” and had become a “simpler, safer, customer-focused bank”.

He also thanked UK taxpayers for their “intervention and support”, and said the Government's decision to “rescue” the bank during the 2008 financial crisis had “protected millions of savers, homeowners and businesses at a time of global crisis”.

The AGM saw the bank's shareholders vote on 26 separate resolutions, all of which passed including one that saw an increase in the level of bonuses payable to the bank's executive directors (EDs).

This will see the maximum bonus for an ED rise from being equal to their salary to being 1.5 times the level of their salary.

Speaking after the AGM, Mr Haythornthwaite described the increase in the level of performance-linked pay as “very measured”, and said it would make the bank more competitive at attracting and retaining “the best talent”.

He went on: “But let's not open up the floodgates of risk exposure, let's not forget the lessons of pre-2008 where it all got a bit out of sync.

“We don’t think we're close to testing the limits of that. It's not as if we've expressed an upper limit here.