LONDON - THE disgraced former boss of troubled British lender Royal Bank of Scotland, Fred Goodwin, has agreed to take a 'substantial' cut in his pension, the bank said Thursday, after widespread pressure to do so.

Mr Goodwin, who came to symbolise the greed of bankers blamed for the worst financial crisis in decades, will see his annual pension reduced to 342,500 pounds (S$807,887), RBS said in a statement.

The pension was originally worth nearly 700,000 pounds.

Mr Goodwin, whose home in Edinburgh was attacked by vandals earlier this year after he was forced to exit RBS, had previously rejected government requests to give up part of his pension despite criticism from Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Royal Bank of Scotland is now 70 per cent owned by the British government after being ravaged by the credit crunch and its 2007 takeover of Dutch group ABN Amro at the top of the market. -- AFP