To think we shouldn't have bothered to bail out the banks

[Normantebbit]

FFS my money is going straight into his pocket!

From the BBC:

Lloyds Banking Group boss Eric Daniels is in line for a bonus of about £2m this year, the BBC has learned.

Mr Daniels, who steps down in March, has turned down a bonus in the past two years but will not do so again, sources told BBC business editor Robert Peston.

The government bailed out Lloyds after it took over HBOS in 2008, and still holds a 41% stake in the bank.

On Tuesday, Barclays boss Bob Diamond said he had not decided whether he would accept a bonus this year.

On top of the bonus, Mr Daniels could receive shares worth another £2m from a long-term incentive plan, according to our correspondent.

The announcement on the bonus will be made in February, he added.

Absolutely, huddspur - my personal opinion is that there shouldn't have been any mass bailouts, but any banks that went under should have been taken into temporary state ownership as Northern Rock was, which of course means that their shares would become worthless (since the businesses have failed).

YANBU

YANBU where the government/we are large shareholders. In that instance then large bonuses are inexcusable. If they haven't had a hand out they can do what they like.

I do wonder how they can talk about "attracting the best" as being a factor in bonuses and pay when so many banks have folded and so many banking people put out of work - it's a buyer's market globally surely? Or perhaps for the top levels reality has no impact. Must be lovely. shrugs