The taxpayer has lost almost £900million on the value of its shares in Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group amid fears that the backlash against bonuses would damage their performance.
Yah, I know, cheap shot, but wouldn\’t it have been better to let Hester keep his shares?
Don’t blame me! I never opposed Stephen Hester getting his bonus (well deserved in my opinion).
Oh, you’re talking about a different Ed…
That would be the bonus based on a contract drawn up by the last labour governmnet and agreed by a cabinet of which he was a minister?
The Telegraph story is bollocks, the whole European banking sector was off about 3.5% yesterday, presumably in reaction to Sarkozy’s transaction tax. Not, I would think, because French taxes are very important to the banks, but because it’s possible he’s made a plan with Merkel to apply the tax more widely.