Why I’ve called on Fred the Shred to explain himself

By John Mann

Today I wrote to ex-RBS Chief Sir Fred ‘the Shred’ Goodwin asking him to make his position clear because when I asked Sir Fred about his pension in the Treasury Select Committee in February. Sir Goodwin had said:

“My pension is the same as everyone else in the Bank who is in a defined benefit pension scheme. It is determined in the same way as anyone else, and anywhere else, in a defined benefit pension scheme”.

On retiring early, Mr Goodwin saw his pension pot doubled-to a whopping £16million-where it would normally be cut.

My letter, which you can read in full here, states: “Ordinarily any decision to take an early pension would lead to a significant reduction in annual pension payments disbursed from the pension fund to the individual concerned. It would appear that the opposite has happened in your case.”

“Could you therefore clarify why you misled the Treasury Committee in stating that your pension arrangements were the same as other RBS employees when they clearly are not.”