ROYAL Bank of Scotland’s board will be braced for a revolt over executive pay at its annual meeting on Wednesday as losses at the taxpayer-owned bank show little sign of easing. On Friday the bank reported a first-quarter pre-tax loss of £968 million – more than double last year's figure of £446m. The loss reflects the impact of its £1.2 billion payment last month to the Treasury to buy out a crucial part of its £45bn bailout when it was saved from collapse in 2008. This comes after the bank, which is 73 per cent owned by the taxpayer, racked up its eighth consecutive year of annual losses and delayed prospects of a dividend payout in February. However, chief executive Ross McEwan saw his total annual pay package double to £3.8m as it included long-term incentive payouts for the first time. Earlier this month RBS warned of a greater-than-expected hit from plans to spin off its Williams & Glyn arm that could fetch as much as £1.5bn. The group also said there was a "significant risk" that it would not meet the deadline to separate the 316-branch Williams & Glyn business by the end of 2017. Meanwhile the bank confirmed that its shortened ‘RBS’ brand – associated with former chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin’s global expansion of the bank – would be played down in favour of the bank’s full ‘Royal Bank of Scotland’ name. “What we’ve doing for a while and what we’ll ramp up a bit more is just talking up the individual brands, which in Scotland is Royal Bank of Scotland,” a spokesman said.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is gearing itself up for a revolt over executive pay at its AGM today, following weak quarterly results last week and warnings it would not meet the deadline to separate Williams & Glyn business by the end of 2017.