Ulster chief could still receive bonus
On the 11th day of the IT computer systems crisis yesterday, Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester confirmed he would not receive any extra pay this year as a gesture to furious customers.
The move means he is effectively foregoing a €1m-plus all shares extra fee because of the damage the bank’s internal IT problems have caused to more than 100,000 Irish customers and 17m people in Britain for almost a fortnight.
However, despite the position by the RBS Group chief, his counterpart at Ulster Bank, Jim Brown, has yet to make the same show of solidarity. A spokesperson for the bank, which has been criticised for delaying information on what is happening and repeatedly pushing back targets for when the issue will be fully resolved, took almost five hours to tell the Irish Examiner no decision had been made.
While Mr Brown told this newspaper on Thursday any stance on bonuses would be a “group decision” with RBS and NatWest, this means he has yet to follow Mr Hester’s example.
The RBS Group paid out €971m in bonuses last year, including €482m to the wider group’s 17,000 investment bankers. While the figure is eye-catching, it is still 43% lower than what was paid out in 2010.
Meanwhile, despite insisting the “bulk” of backlogged salaries have been lodged in accounts, Ulster Bank still cannot say exactly how many people continue to be affected.
The under-fire firm has also finally confirmed that it will be the middle of next week before the problems stemming from an IT software upgrade are fully fixed, a situation they had dismissed in recent days.
This means child welfare and household welfare recipients who are due to receive their state support on Tuesday are set to be dragged into the scandal.
Ulster Bank said while “some social welfare and children’s allowance payments continue to be affected” they will be able to access the funds by physically arriving at a branch with photographic ID and their account number.
The firm will also publish advertisements in national newspapers next week to highlight how people can access their money.
More than 70,000 people concerned about what is happening at the bank have contacted its helpline 1800 205100 this week, while the wider RBS Group is reported to be facing a €100m-plus bill.
A total of 60 branches will stay open today, and a further 22 on Sunday, while 80 branches have extended opening hours to help worried customers.
* www.ulsterbank.ie or the helpline 1800 205100
