'NOW GIVE UP ALL YOUR BREAD FRED' Shamed boss's cash cut.

Byline: GRAHAM HISCOTT

DISGRACED banker Sir Fred Goodwin yesterday finally agreed to a hefty cut in his colossal pension.

But some saw the move as a cynical ploy to bag another top job.

And Eddy Weatherill, of the Independent Banking Advisory Service, claimed: "He should have walked away with nothing.

"He all-but bankrupted the bank. For him to get anything is an obscenity."

Former Royal Bank of Scotland chief Sir Fred caved into pressure by agreeing to hand back pounds 212,500 of the pounds 555,000 a year he was receiving - at the age of just 50.

His initial annual pension of pounds 703,000 had been reduced after he took a pounds 2.8million one-off lump-sum.

One reason it is thought Sir Fred "volunteered" the payment was to get a new job - possibly in banking. The prospect will anger those who blame his reckless empire-buildinfor causing RBS's near collapse.

RBS's new management had been investigating ways to cut Sir Fred's pension.

The results of a probe, announced yesterday, found he had done nothing wrong. But it is understood bosses were ready to start legal action to recover some of the money when Sir Fred stepped in.

Under the new deal his annual pension is still pounds 342,500. The final reduction is much more than he started off wanting to give. Goodwin - dubbed Fred "The Shred" for savage cost cutting - has been sunning himself with his wife and two children in a pounds 4million villa on the French Riviera.

An industry source revealed: "Fred is sick of living like a pariah and wants to get home, possibly with a view to working in banking again. There's only so much time you can spend sitting in the French sunshine."

A friend close added: "He felt if he gave back part at that time it would admit guilt. He never did anything illegal or wrong."

Headhunter Phil Sharp claimed Sir Fred''s chances of work were "very good".

Sir Fred stood down in October after the bank had to ask for a pounds 20billion taxpayer bail-out. In February it revealed the UK's largest ever loss of pounds 24.1bn, triggering 12,000 job losses.

RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton had been trying for months to get Sir Fred to do the right thing. But Rob MacGregor of the Unite union said: "The only way his pension has been clawed back is under the threat of legal action."

He blasted Sir Fred for slashing payments to other RBS pensioners by rejecting union pleas for leniency over "clawback" provisions. This meant they lost up to 30 per cent of their company pensions at State retirement age.

Yesterday Gordon Brown said:"It is right Sir Fred paid back at least some. This was the discretionary element agreed before he left. It is really important we have a system of bonuses and rewards....far more transparent and open than in the past."

CAPTION(S):

HUGE LOSS Crisis hit RBS DEAL Sir Fred's pension has been reduced