Old Banking Habits Die Hard

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The embattled former RBS boss Fred Goodwin might want to consider leaving Britain until the media storm and outrage over his estimated £650,000-a-year ($933,000) pension has settled; it may have to be a very long break. On Thursday, the same day Royal Bank of Scotland announced a UK record loss of £24.1 billion ($34.6 billion) for 2008, it was revealed the 50-year-old Goodwin was receiving an annual pension of £650,000 ($933,000) for life.He retired after the government's multi-billion pound bailout last year.

In an extraordinary sequence of events, Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, head of the Treasury, urged Goodwin to give up his pension. Goodwin responded angrily, saying he had already given up a number of contractual rights which had cost him a lot of money. Now, however, the British media are demanding action.
Under the headline "Shred Fred (Goodwin's nickname was Fred the Shred)," the Sun newspaper's editorial opened with: "Grasping banker Sir Fred Goodwin gives two fingers to us all." The editorial's tone did not let up.
"He refuses to hand back a penny of the sickening £693,000-a-year pension he is plundering from taxpayers.
"While millions of pensioners struggle on a pittance, one of the idiots most to blame for ruining their retirements lives like a king on public money. "This is not just obscene... it is outrageous, disgusting and scandalous. And it must be STOPPED (the Sun's capitalization)." ..."His pension is the final insult for the 20,000 RBS staff who will lose their jobs, for the shareholders who have been bled dry and for the rest of us whose taxes will have to clear up the mess."