My staff ARE overpaid, admits RBS chief



Overpaid: Sir Philip Hampton, chairman of RBS, admitted his staff salaries were too high

The chairman of bailed-out RBS has admitted that bankers are overpaid.

Sir Philip Hampton said pay continues to be 'astonishingly high' but insisted he had no choice but to pay the going rate for top talent.

He spoke as Barclays' shareholders yesterday criticised the bank's latest bumper round of bonuses.

It revealed a £1.4billion salary and bonus pool for staff at its investment banking 'casino' division for just three months work.



The windfall leaves workers at its Barclays Capital wing on course for average take-home pay of more than £240,000 this year.

Sir Philip said: 'If we don't pay our top people they leave very quickly. Our top people are very much in demand and we have seen a significant loss of our top people.'

However, he failed to mention that more than 100 RBS bankers took home bonuses in excess of £1million last year, even though the bank turned in a loss of £3.6billion.

Barclay's Capital caused public outrage when Bob Diamond, its American boss, banked £27million last year after Barclays sold an investment business in which he held a sizeable stake.



And the bank came in for more criticism from shareholders at its AGM yesterday. Investor Robert Muriel said: 'Mr Diamond may not be getting the same sort of pay now, but he's hardly suffering.'

Although Barclays did not have to be bailed out directly by the taxpayer, it has benefited from the £1trillion in support the Government had to pump into the system to avert an economic meltdown.