Member Article

Northern Rock set to reward staff despite losses

Northern Rock plc yesterday announced an underlying loss of £232.4m for last year.

The company said that improvements were made in the second half of the year with losses being recorded at £92.4m, compared with an underlying loss of £140.0m in the first half of 2010.

The new ‘good’ bank announced that despite the losses they would be providing bonuses of £13.1m subject to individual performances.

They said that the average salary for Northern Rock staff was around £25,000 and as a result bonuses would be around the £3,000 mark, though one company director would be awarded a bonus of £185,000.

Executive Chairman, Ron Sandler said the losses were in line with expectations and defended the banks stance on bonus payouts.

He said: “ We made some significant progress in 2010 and there are some very considerable achievements made by the bank in the course of the year and it’s on the back of that, that the board believes some form of reward is appropriate.

“It will be a modest level of award for those achievements.”

He continued: “I will also point out that the staff of Northern Rock will not be getting a pay rise in 2011 [while] senior management in Northern Rock has not had a pay rise in four years and we are also confident of our return back to profitability.”

Mr Sandler said the company was to continue to look at a return to the private sector but there was no set timetable for this.

He added: “We continue to work closely with UKFI on the strategic options for returning the company to private ownership, in the best interests of taxpayers, and we will provide a further update in this regard in due course.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .