RBS Suspends Bonus Payments of 18 Staff

By Max Colchester 

LONDON-- Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC has suspended the bonus payments of 18 individuals, pending a review of their involvement in the bank's alleged rigging of foreign exchange rates.

In November, RBS paid GBP217 million in fines to U.S. and U.K. regulators to settle allegations of foreign exchange rate rigging. Following the fines, RBS pledged to investigate the conduct of traders and their managers. At the time, the 80% state-owned bank said it was looking into the behavior of 50 current and former staff, as well as dozens of supervisors and senior managers.

So far the bank has begun disciplining six people, three of whom were suspended. On Tuesday, the bank said it would finish its internal review by the first quarter of next year.

"To be clear no further bonus payments will be made or unvested bonus awards released to those in scope of the review until it has concluded and its recommendations have been considered by the Remuneration Committee and the Board Risk Committee," said Jon Pain, the head of conduct and regulatory affairs at RBS, who is leading the internal probe.

Meanwhile, the bank is still in discussions to settle rigging allegations with other regulators, including the U.S. Department of Justice.

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