RBS chief to forgo bonus over computer calamity

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) chief executive Stephen Hester has announced that he will forgo his bonus this year because of the problems caused to thousands of customers by a failure in the company’s computers.

The IT glitch delayed payments to Ulster Bank, NatWest and RBS accounts, affecting some 100,000 customers in Ireland alone.

Mr Hester said today that the problems were caused by issues dating back to before he arrived at RBS in 2008, but taking a bonus would be “inappropriate”.

He told the BBC: “I think it is inappropriate for me to have a bonus this year. We have let our customers down.

“That may have arisen from old systems and things that were from before my time, but I think we could reasonably have been expected to have improved things since then and clearly we didn’t improve them enough.

“So it wouldn’t cross my mind to have a bonus this year.”

Meanwhile, Ulster Bank Chief Executive Jim Brown says he is waiting to hear from RBS as to whethar he will receive his own bonus.

Earlier, Jobs Minister Richard Bruton called on Ulster Bank to put its customers first, and to be seen to do so.

Minister Bruton said customers need to know the problem will be solved soon.

"Make sure that there aren't long queues, make sure people are getting the service that they deserve - they (Ulster Bank) are working through a problem but I think customers need to feel that they are on top of it and that they are honouring the commitments that they are making verbally."