Ross McEwan, the new chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, will announce a turnaround strategy for the part-nationalised bank. The bank is expected to post an 8 billion pound loss. McEwan is expected to present his plans to RBS staff and customers at a venue in East London. But his plans for rejuvenating the bank, 81% owned by British taxpayers after its 46 billion pound government bailout during the 2008 financial crisis, may not be welcomed as his plans to award more than 500 million pounds in staff bonuses have been widely criticized. The bank has faced criticism for paying bumper bonuses despite being years away from returning to private ownership, with taxpayers sitting on a paper loss of about 13 billion pounds at current share prices. Unlike rival state-backed lender Lloyds, which is set to return to private ownership in the next year, banking and political sources expect RBS to remain under state control for a further three to five years. The bank has made a loss in each of the six years since its bailout.
