Sir Fred reduces pension

Thursday, 18 June 2009 12:00 AM

By politics.co.uk staff

Sir Fred Goodwin has finally agreed to reduce his pension in an effort to water down public anger at his pay-off.

The former chief executive of RBS cut £20,000 a year from the pension, in a move widely welcomed by politicians and activists.

"This is a belated recognition that there are consequences if someone makes a mess of their business and inflicts huge losses on shareholders, customers and ultimately the taxpayer," said Vince Cable, Lib Dem Treasury spokesman.

"The RBS investigation centred on whether Goodwin's actions were illegal or immoral but didn't deal with negligence or failure."

"There will undoubtedly still be anger that there are rewards for failure and that a key figure who wrecked the worlds' largest bank has not been held accountable for his actions."

The bank, which is now 70 per cent state-owned, nearly collapsed last year after a number of poor acquisitions by Sir Fred.

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