Loss-making Royal Bank of Scotland said it would prove next year that it had become 'an opportunity' for investors, as a bumper pay deal for its boss was voted through amid anger against bankers' pay.
'Our businesses are shaping up and our recovery is clearly underway,' RBS chairman Philip Hampton said at the part-nationalised bank's annual shareholder meeting.
'I believe that in the next year or so we will finally prove that RBS has become the opportunity we know it can and must be.'
Despite opposition from some investors, chief executive Stephen Hester's £7.7m (€8.8m) long-term deal, unveiled last month, easily won approval when put to the vote.
'I don't see why he should get a bonus when they're still making a loss,' private shareholder Tom Wilson said at the AGM, referring to RBS's 2010 losses of more than £1 billion.
One of RBS's top 25 investors had said, on condition of anonymity, that remuneration was a 'big concern', and corporate governance advisory group PIRC had urged shareholders to oppose the pay plans for directors.
However, the remuneration plans were approved by 99.2% of shareholders who voted, helped by the backing of UKFI, the state body that manages Britain's 83% holding in the bank.
UKFI said its decision to back the pay deal reflected the fact that the executives' remuneration would take the form of deferred share-based awards, as opposed to cash up-front, and would depend upon the company's performance.
Hampton defended Hester's pay, saying it was 'competitive by market comparisons, but by many comparisons is towards the lower end.' He also said that pay at RBS's investment banking arm was 'relatively low' compared with rivals.
The chairman also said RBS was ahead of target in running off 'non-core' loans as part of its attempt to shrink and make the bank 'strong, safe and able to stand alone without government support'.
