Parents think bank exec is overpaid

"If you ask my mother and father about my pay, they'd say it was too high," said RBS CEO Stephen Hester during a hearing of the Treasury Select Committee, which is investigating high salaries and bonus checks paid at British banks controlled by the government, namely RBS, Northern Rock and Lloyds Banking Group.

Hester, however, said his pay package was "worth very close to nothing because the share prices has not risen."

Hester has agreed to accept no cash the first year, only bank shares which could be worth as much as $16 million over three years, The Times of London Online reported.
Over a series of bank bailouts in the past two years, the British government has taken over 84 percent of RBS. However, Hester said shareholders "have raised concerns about our ability to keep and motivate the good people."

Hester declined to discuss salaries among top staff before he had talked to the staff personally, The Times said.

He also said the bank was making progress. "We did not slip on as many banana skins as I thought we might," he said.

Copyright 2010 by United Press International.