I am not surprised in the slightest that Stephen Hester has refused to give the RBS Board (and, through them, the Government) the blank cheque of an open-ended commitment. That's what happens when you play fast and loose with peoples' expectations that the basis of one's pay will be maintained as originally agreed.
RBS said on Wednesday Hester had been unable to make an open-ended commitment to the role having held it for five years. It said the board believed an orderly succession process would give a new chief executive time to prepare for the bank's eventual privatisation and lead it in the years that follow.
It will be very interesting indeed to see who they find to replace him and, more particularly, on what basis!
I suspect that they will all end up wishing they had stuck to the original terms that Hester took the job on!
