Jon Snow Leads Wave Of Hester Sympathy

The public has found that it can be cathartic, even fun, to attack RBS over bonuses. It's hard to justify these huge salaries, especially as RBS is partially state owned, and it's easy to see how people can get angry about the subject.

However Jon Snow comments in this blog about how “The coming together of the state and RBS was the most emergency of shotgun weddings. There was neither the time nor the inclination to use RBS as a new model of moral banking and someone had to do the filthy job of sorting it out.”

The situation at RBS was so dire when Hester was tasked with turning the bank round that a pretty attractive contract had to be offered to him. Why would you take on such a risky job if the rewards were meagre?

A piece in the Telegraph makes the comparison with a football team; “Just as a top team will not be able to sustain its performance unless it pays wages similar to those offered by its rivals, so no bank or investment fund will survive if it cannot attract, and keep, the best talent.” 

RBS is in a far better state than it was. Hester has done the job tasked of him and kept his side of the contract drawn up by the Labour government. He has shed parts of RBS's balance sheet that shouldn't have ever been there and is reportedly making progress for the long term prospects of the bank. Yet when he asked his employers to honour their side of the contract they cry foul. 

The bottom line is if Stephen Hester goes there won't be many who will want to replace him.