RBS Ross McEwan said he did not wish to be considered for the pay-out in his first full year in charge

The boss of Royal Bank of Scotland is facing a fresh row over fat cat pay as he prepares to collect a £1million windfall.

In a bid to avoid negative publicity when he took the helm in October last year, Ross McEwan said he did not wish to be considered for the pay-out in his first full year in charge.

But the show of restraint from the New Zealander will cease next August, despite RBS being fined almost £400million last month for rigging the £3.5trillion-a-day foreign exchange market.

It is understood chief executive officer Mr McEwan has no intention of waiving a £1million shares windfall, equivalent to one year’s salary. It would take his maximum pay package for 2015 – including salary, pension and performance-related long term bonuses – to almost £4million.

Last night one MP described the award as ‘wholly inappropriate’ and said Mr McEwan and fellow bosses should show some ‘moral backbone’ and forfeit their windfalls.

To get around the bonus cap, most of the major banks introduced additional payments – known as fixed ‘role-based’ allowances – on top of annual bonuses to ensure top executives are not left out of pocket.

The EU bonus cap limits banks to paying a maximum of one year’s fixed pay, rising to twice this if shareholders approve.

But the new pay-outs are guaranteed and count as part of an executive’s basic pay package, pushing up the maximum bonus that can be awarded.

Last night one senior banking insider suggested Mr McEwan would be unable to waive his pay-out even if he wanted to, because this would breach ‘the spirit’ of the EU laws which dictate these payments are not discretionary, unlike bonuses.

But John Mann, a Labour member of the Treasury Select Committee, described this as ‘nonsense’.

He said: ‘It is wholly inappropriate for a taxpayer-owned bank that’s mired in scandal to be awarding bonuses at all.

'Claiming that “Europe made us do it” is total nonsense. It’s about time these bankers showed some moral backbone.’

The UK’s big four high street banks have handed out £30million in share awards to their top management this year in their efforts to sidestep Brussels’ cap on banker bonuses.

The biggest award of role-based allowances to a management team was at HSBC, which handed chief executive Stuart Gulliver £1.7million in share awards.

In a bid to avoid negative publicity when he took the helm in October last year, Mr McEwan said he did not wish to be considered for the pay-out in his first full year in charge

RBS handed out shares worth almost £5.5million to its ten most senior bankers – with the exception of Mr McEwan. His £1million windfall will be paid in instalments over five years.

RBS has squandered every penny of taxpayers’ rescue cash after racking up £46billion in losses since the financial crisis – more than £1,500 for every taxpayer in the UK.

It made losses of £8.2billion last year but still paid out £588million in bonuses. It is expected to be even more generous this year as it is on course to make its first full year profit since the financial crisis.

Luke Hildyard, of campaign group the High Pay Centre, added: ‘RBS is a government-owned bank – so Mr McEwan is a public servant.

To be raking in such a preposterous sum of money will be completely unpalatable to taxpayers.’ He added: ‘These bonuses are clearly not rewarding good behaviour as banks are rotten to the core with scandal and bad practice.

BAILED OUT TO THE TUNE OF £46 BILLION... YET THE FIASCOS CONTINUE More than six years have passed since RBS was bailed out to the tune of £46billion, yet there is precious little sign of taxpayers getting their money back. In the meantime, RBS has lurched from one scandal to the next – from duping thousands of customers into buying worthless insurance, to allegations it deliberately drove small businesses to the wall to boost its profits. Most of the fiascos happened before Mr McEwan took over – and he has pledged to clean up the bank. Last month RBS was fined almost £400million for rigging the foreign exchange market. It was also fined £700million for manipulating ‘Libor’ interest rates – used to set mortgage rates for millions of homeowners. And so far it has set aside £3.3billion to compensate customers who were mis-sold payment protection insurance. Advertisement

All the efforts to circumvent the bonus cap and keep paying these huge bonuses show banks are being run in the interests of bankers.’

The UK’s biggest high street lenders will start announcing their bonuses for the past year in the coming weeks.

Last month George Osborne withdrew a legal challenge to the EU bonus cap after it was rejected by a key adviser to the European Court of Justice.

The Treasury had argued the cap would inflate basic pay, making it harder for banks to trim costs in lean years, while also causing top staff to move to US and Asian rivals.