28 Apr 2014

RBS scuttles bonus bonanza

3:54 pm on 28 April 2014

Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland has abandoned attempts to pay bonuses twice the size of salaries after being told the move would not be approved by the Treasury.

The body that manages the Treasury's 81 percent stake in the bank has told RBS it would veto plans for a two-for-one bonus ratio.

New European Union rules mean the bank has to ask its shareholders for approval of annual bonuses above 100 percent of base salaries.

The British Chancellor, George Osborne, told the BBC the new team at RBS had done a lot to repair what went so badly wrong in that bank, but there's still a long way to go.

RBS was an active lender in New Zealand ahead of the global financial crisis.