Since the onset of the global credit crunch, which has seen a number of banks become at least part government owned as a result of huge bailouts using taxpayers’ money, the government has been promising to clamp down on the extraordinary bonuses that banking executives were picking up.

However, despite these promises one bank appears to be making a mockery of the bailout by continuing to award huge bonuses to executives.

Like a number of other banks the Royal Bank of Scotland has been bailed out using the public purse, but has been in hot water a number of times as a result of its lavish spending even though it has run into problems and has had to be bailed out.

Last year the bank came under fire for throwing lavish parties where employees were wined and dined at a five star establishment and were put up in a posh hotel. This year is even worse, with the bank now hitting the headline as a result of the amount it is spending on its salaries and bonuses.

It has been reported that the salaries and bonuses that will have been handed out to RBS employees this year will have come to a massive £4 billion. In the investment banking sector of the bank the average worker will take home an average £240,000, and more senior officials are set to enjoy bonuses of between £1 and £5 million. According to reports these amounts even top those that were dishes out in 2007 before the financial crisis hit and the bank had to be bailed out.

The bank had to be bailed out with £20 billion of taxpayers’ money, of which almost a quarter will be used on salaries and bonuses. In a recent podcast the Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “Banks must put lending to businesses and homeowners before making huge payouts to their staff.”

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