RBS boss McEwan awarded £1.2m in shares

Ross McEwan, the chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, has been awarded £1.2 million worth of shares in the still 73 per cent state-owned lender.

The allocation, which form part of RBS’s long-term incentive plans (LTIPs), come less than a month after the bank announced it was in the red for the ninth year in a row on the back of an attributable loss of just short of £7 billion for 2016.

MrMcEwan, who took charge at the Edinburgh-based RBS in October 2013, was vested a total of 512,509 shares under the incentive scheme at £2.389 a pop, although 240,880 of these were withheld to satisfy tax requirements.

In total, RBS’ directors were granted shares worth around £6 million as existing rewards programmes came to fruition.

RBS has also announced more details for a newer LTIP scheme, under which bosses will be eligible for shares totaling roughly £15.9 million, provided they meet certain performance targets.

The execs will have to wait until they can their hands on the stock, however – the shares will vest between 2020 and 2024.

Under the new scheme, McEwan’s reward could be as high as £2.9 million.

Although McEwan has warned the market not to hold its breath for a profit this year, he has indicated the bank will return to the black in 2018 once the eyewatering restructuring costs and misconduct charges can be left off of its bottom line, the last major one being a multi-billion pound fine expected from the US Department of Justice for mis-selling mortgage-backed securities.