JOHNSTONE SAYS RBS NEEDS BREAK-UP NOT BUSINESS AS USUAL
Alison Johnstone, Green MSP for Lothian and a member of Holyrood's economy committee, is urging the UK Government to consider breaking up the Royal Bank of Scotland in light of continuing massive bonuses and links to environmental destruction.
The taxpayer-backed bank faces shareholder rebellion at today's AGM in Edinburgh over £607 million of staff bonuses despite losses of £5.2 billion.
Meanwhile RBS has been named as the world's seventh-biggest financial backer of mountaintop removal. It has invested hundreds of millions of pounds in US companies which have used explosives to extract coal from over 500 mountains in recent years.
Alison said:
"It seems RBS have learned nothing from the crash. While it's right they rebuild so we can recoup some of the cash we gave them it's wrong of them to continue with a grossly inappropriate pay and perks structure.
"They say they encourage 'corporate responsibility' among clients involved in trashing the environment. What a load of meaningless jargon.
"The public owns this bank and if the Government had any common sense it would look at breaking it up, redirecting its energies to support small businesses, reflecting the public's needs and aspirations. Sadly the UK Coalition is so in thrall to the City any change would be glacially slow and microscopic in scale."