RBS Snubs Government, Hands Out Bonuses in Cash

The Royal Bank of Scotland, that U.K. bank that nearly went under at the height of the financial crisis, has decided on a bonus structure for its top performers that the bank admitted in a letter to its shareholders is "unlikely to please everyone."

The letter also detailed the structure, which does give RBS' heavy hitters stock bonuses, but the stock is able to be sold within 12 weeks (as opposed to forcing it to be held over a period of years as some banks in the U.S. have done in order to at least give the appearance that they have heard regulators and voters' disapproval over monstrous cash bonuses).

The move was made, according to RBS, in order to keep top performers from defecting to competitors.