Shareholders Slam Outgoing RBS Boss

Shareholders Slam Outgoing RBS Boss
|

The outgoing chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has been heavily criticised by shareholders at his final annual general meeting.

Sir Philip Hampton was lambasted over scandals including local authority loans and the treatment of small businesses, as well as local branch closures.

One shareholder, who is spearheading a damages case against the bank, said Sir Philip was leaving "a terrible legacy" behind.

The chairman said his six years at the head of the bank had been full of ups and downs, but he was sure he was leaving the lender in a stronger position.

The bank's Global Restructuring Group (GRG) is alleged to have pushed small businesses into administration to take control of their assets and sell them at a profit, which RBS denies.

Shareholder Neil Mitchell accused Sir Philip of failing to act on the issue, which he described as "the business PPI".

"GRG has become a massive risk to this bank going forward. After five years of your tenure, it is still a massive reputational risk," he said.

"This is a real issue about culture. You didn't listen to me 2010, in 2012 you pretended, you went through a sham of an investigation.

"The RBS business banking reputation has been trashed."

He added: "It is a terrible legacy you leave behind. I hope that when you leave this bank, that had you taken action five years ago, a lot less damage would have been done to this bank - particularly in business and corporate banking."

Sir Philip said there had been an investigation into GRG, as he refuted claims of "systematic failings".

Shareholders also raised the issue of Lender Option Borrower Option (LOBO) loans to local councils.

Joel Benjamin said: "Rather than help the local government sector get back on its feet, RBS has been finding new and innovative ways of assisting councils to dig their own graves, issuing billions of pounds of toxic loans."

Anthony Barnett said: "As a bank that was bailed out by the tax payer and still largely owned by the tax payer, could you justify how you are charging councils, some of the poorest in the country, on complex and risky loans called LOBOs - some of these rates at more than 7%?"

Sir Philip said: "It is very difficult to talk about specific interest rates. Most business loans, most loans generally in this country, are subject to strong competition."