ROYAL Bank of Scotland was today expected to announce that the head of its investment bank, John Hourican, will leave the company and give up rights to around £4 million worth of share options.
Hourican had been brought in to rescue the investment arm after the bank was bailed out by the UK government in 2008.
A restructuring of the division, which employs 16,000 people, has paved the way for Hourican’s widely-expected departure after more than four years at the helm.
Although Hourican had no involvement in the Libor-rigging scandal, he is also expected to give up rights to millions of pounds of previous share awards following political pressure on the bank.
RBS is expected to announce it will pay some £400m in fines to regulators in the UK and US over the Libor scandal.
Much of the settlement will be recouped from previous bonus rounds, with some £100m expected to be reclaimed.
Politicians and shareholders said the clawback would be a welcome move by RBS, which is 82 per cent taxpayer-owned.
SNP Treasury spokesman Stewart Hosie, who sits on the Commons Treasury select committee, recently said: “In terms of Libor fines, we made clear that banks had to pay them and not the taxpayer. The banks must do whatever they can to lessen the impact on the taxpayer.”
RBS’s remuneration committee, chaired by non-executive director Penny Hughes, is understood to be considering the option of a “flat tax” on the pay of hundreds of employees in the markets division, who generally earn much more than high-street staff. It is thought it might involve 15 per cent of bonus pay-outs over the past few years being clawed back, although no final decision has been taken.