Royal Bank of Scotland pension scheme set for £800m injection
The multibillion pound bailout of Royal Bank of Scotland by the UK taxpayer has seen £800 million of this funding set aside to cover a growing deficit with the company's final salary pension scheme. There was more outrage today when the gold plated pension scheme operated by the company was confirmed to be just under £2 billion in deficit as opposed to a small surplus just 12 months ago. However, for a business which at one point was possibly technically insolvent without the assistance of UK taxpayers, the proposed £800 million pension payment has not gone down well.
As we have seen over the last few years, a number of large UK final salary pension schemes have "bit the dust" after their supporting companies went bankrupt leaving pensions underfunded. Now that the UK banking system has been bailed out by the UK taxpayer yet again, what is the difference between these pension funds and those companies in the private sector which have gone bust?
While substantial amounts of government funding have been injected into the banking system the £800 million deficit on the Royal Bank of Scotland pension scheme could be just the tip of the iceberg. The company lost substantial amounts of money by investing in its own shares and RBS financial securities, something which is totally legal and acceptable in the UK. However, now that the Royal Bank of Scotland deficit has been confirmed will we see similar situations with Northern Rock and Lloyds Bank for example?
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