RBS Boss: End Of An Era For Big Bank Bonuses

The chairman of RBS, Sir Philip Hampton, has told Sky News that the era of big banking bonuses is over.

In a documentary to be aired on Sky News at 7pm this evening, he is asked by business presenter Jeff Randall if we have seen the "high watermark of bonuses".

"I think so, yes," he answers.

His comments complement a YouGov poll for Sky News that reveals 75% of people think government bailed-out bank bosses should not get a bonus.

And more than half of people questioned think bankers are damaging Britain's business reputation.

Sir Philip is chairman of a bank - part-nationalised in 2008 - that has arguably been central to the ethical debate over bonuses.

Its former chief executive Fred Goodwin was roundly criticised for taking his full pension pot when he left his position under a cloud. Earlier this year he was stripped of his knighthood.

The current chief executive, Stephen Hester - widely considered to be doing a good job at RBS - gave up his bonus last month, but only after public pressure.

Mr Hampton gave up his £1.4m bonus just before the outcry over Mr Hester's hit headlines.

Explaining why he thinks bonuses are now so high and why he felt they could not live on, Sir Philip said: "Part of the reason for the pay is that the profits were not sustainable.

"They were there for a few years but they were not sustainable and the pay moved up to that level of profits and it now needs to be corrected down."

But Sir Nigel Rudd, former deputy chairman of Barclays, said he would have paid the former Barclays chief executive, John Varley, more money if he had his way.

"If I was the Prime Minister I would ban the use of fairness as a word because I don't think you can be fair," he told Sky News.

"Bob Diamond and John Varley made a huge difference to Barclays as they went through this terrible period.

"You realise Barclays never made a loss throughout all this period? I think John Varley was underpaid actually... because I think what he did throughout that crisis was phenomenal."

Earlier this week, Lloyds Banking Group took the unprecedented decision to claw back part of the bonuses awarded to 13 executives.

Sky sources have also learned that HSBC, another to come out of the banking crisis relatively unscathed, will overhaul the way it pays bonuses to UK staff.

But if this sounds like the culture of the city is changing, then listen to former chancellor Alistair Darling.

"One thing that struck me was that a number of them didn't seem to realise what they'd done," Mr Darling said.

"I think one or two, to this day, still don't realise they did anything wrong, which most people just find flabbergasting.

"They didn't know what they were doing and we, not them, to a large extent are paying the price for that."

:: Watch the documentary on Sky News for iPad from 5pm tonight