Friday 9 January 2009

Northern Rock finance chief exits with £900,000

Don't tell me; let me guess; we need to pay high salaries to attract talent.

Northern Rock's chief financial officer, Ann Godbehere, is set to leave the state-owned bank in February after earning nearly £1 million for 12 month's work.

The bank announced today that Ms Godbehere will step down from Northern Rock's board next month, and leave the group in February.

Since joining 11 months ago when the Government nationalised Northern Rock, Ms Godbehere, the former finance director at Swiss Re, has been earning £75,000 a month, and will end her time at the bank with total pay of £900,000.

Ms Godbehere's pay deal, as well as the £3,000 a day negotiated by Ron Sandler, Northern Rock's non-executive chairman, caused outcry last year when details emerged after shareholders lost millions of pounds when the bank collapsed.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

shocking yet strangely predictable.

Anonymous said...

We need to pay high enough bribes to get idiots to go away.

John McClane said...

And what about the story in the Telegraph about how the govt should buy houses about to be repossessed?

Is every failure going to be rewarded?

Are the indebted always going to be favoured over the thrifty?

Anonymous said...

Don't forget, the finance officer did not pay any tax on her earnings - i guess she must agree with Leona Helmsly, that only little people pay taxes

Anonymous said...

"Ann Godbehere" - pretty much the opposite of what it says on the buses.

Electro-Kevin said...

900k to get rid of him ?

Worth every penny.

Nick von Mises said...

Thw whole "must pay a fortune to attract and retain" argument only works on the upside of tha bubble. Now the question is "wherelse would he get that kind of money"?

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure if others feel the same, but, as I look into the second tier of the elite - i.e. the ones out of the public spotlight most of the time... there's a huge propensity for oddly relevant sounding surnames.

Victor Madoff - pronounced Made-off
Bob Diamond - highly paid @ Barclays
A Godbehere - Hmmm...

Are these names that would be unbelievable in fiction really a coincidence? Have people changed names by deed-pole because they're having a laugh at our expense? Is there a historic reason why people with odd surnames have managed to climb the greasy pole?

Anonymous said...

You get more of what you sponsor: If you give money to greedy bankers, you get more of them.

What will banks do with money given to them at present? Lend it to businesses in the midst of a recession or use it to pay themselves excessive salaries? You decide!

It's a shame that the excessive scale of remuneration generated during the bubble, when these bankes were really losing others' money for rather than doing something useful, is applied when they have to clean up the mess of a bust.

Don't store your money where moth doth corrupt and thieves break through and steal!

B. in C.