Good old Fred.

[greyrigg]

The deal has been done.

Who did the deal?

Who turned a blind eye to the excesses in the banking industry?

Who has had to borrow so much money that proper investment is being crowded out?

Who is defying all logic and awarding their employees pay rises and operating a Ponzi pension scheme?

I don't think the politicians in question really want to embark on a route that leads to pensions being removed due to failures, do you?

Malcolm

[tonyg]

But I do not believe the cr*p that "we need to pay big salaries / outrageous packages to attract and retain the best talent".
Campbell

Lets face it these guys are all voting for each others pay rises -

"The shareholders" vote for executive pay - let's face it - "the shareholders" are the big pension funds and banks!

Who runs them? - the guys they all went to Eton/Harrow/Oxbridge with - what do you expect ?? - they'll screw each other ??

Hence the rolling three year contracts that were once popular (may still be) - so no matter how much of an a**e you make of your job you'll always have at least 2 years left of your contract to be bought out of.

I remember reading that in the 60's the chief executives of most big British companies earned 20 times the average worker (not bad eh? - reckon you could do OK on 20 times what you earn now?) - by the mid 80's they earned 200 times what their average worker did!

Not a bad little deal what?? (in best chinless wonder accent)

[james]

Would agree with everything else Kenny, but I think pensions are different, and separate from salaries, bonus's etc.

His pension was part of his contract, regardless of his or the Banks performance. Just as mine was when I joined Bristows. When they changed it from final salary to pension fund, although I had no choice, I was informed first.

I still maintain that if any of us were in his position, we would not forfeit our pension.

tut

actually it was discretionary as has been confirmed recently so someone at the bank gave it rather than it being bound by contract. But now that it has been given, the horse has bolted.

[gorrie]

What would giving back some/all his pension achieve? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought pension funds were ringfenced... if a company goes under, the pension fund is still there to pay pensions. Was this not legislation brought in some time back?

I'm assuming therefore that if he forfeited some/all of his pension, all this would do is go back in to the pension fund. It's not like the money goes back to assist RBS getting itself out of a hole. Therefore, IMO giving up any of his pension is nothing more than a futile gesture to get the media fueled bully boys off his back.

[Peter]

Perhaps I'm being overly simplistic but this guy (and the others at HBOS etc) were all paid well to be at the helm of a multinational corporation (the buck stops there?).
I don't think removing a pension is the right way to address the issue, but there should be some means of sanction. If he had been the captain of a large ship who, through reckless action, trashed it and thus affecting the lives of others, then I'm sure he'd be up for a criminal charge.

Cheers, Peter

[campbell]

The most succinct and grown-up summary of the position yet, Peter

Anyone seen the video of the HSBC CEO talking down the problems from sub-prime today, versus him talking up the opportunities of sub-prime just 2 years ago? Priceless. Fire him.