PURI.L Share News (PURI)

Royal Bank of Scotland on Tuesday handed 10 directors share allowances worth £3.5m under a new plan by the bank to work around strict rules on bonuses.The directors were given just under 1.02m shares, but sold around 0.48m to satisfy an associated tax liability, the bank said. The sales raised around £1.66m in total.The biggest allowance, of 154,241 shares worth £0.53m, was made to Rory Cullinan who is the head of restructuring at the bank.Meanwhile, deputy chief executive Chris Sullivan was awarded 134,961 shares worth £0.47m.The share allowances come at a time when executive pay at the state-backed lender is surrounded by controversy, with taxpayers still at a loss from the £45.5bn bailout six years ago.RBS had pulled plans to pay directors bonuses of up to 200% of their salary after opposition from the Treasury earlier this year. However, the bank had warned that it was facing an "exodus of talented staff".New European rules mean that bonuses can be no higher than one times basic pay, or 200% with shareholder approval. However, share allowances do not count towards this cap.Share allowances are seen as different from bonuses given that they are not directly linked to financial performance and are instead role-based pay awards.The shares were awarded for the eight-month period ended 31 August and they can be vested in 20% portions each year for the next five years.Top Director BuysImperial Tobacco Group (IMT) Director name: Mr Mark WilliamsonAmount purchased: 3,955 @ 2,501.23p Value: £98,924Puricore (PURI) Director name: Mr Michael AshtonAmount purchased: 100,000 @ 39.00p Value: £39,000SSE (SSE) Director name: Mr Peter LynasAmount purchased: 2,000 @ 1,451.90p Value: £29,038Puricore (PURI) Director name: Mr Michael AshtonAmount purchased: 50,000 @ 35.00p Value: £17,500SVG Capital (SVI) Director name: Ms Helen M MahyAmount purchased: 3,529 @ 424.71p Value: £14,988Elementis (ELM) Director name: Mr Ian BrindleAmount purchased: 5,342 @ 275.47p Value: £14,716Greencoat UK Wind (UKW) Director name: Mr Kevin McCullough Amount purchased: 10,000 @ 109.44p Value: £10,944Top Director SellsGKN (GKN) Director name: Mr Nigel SteinAmount sold: 185,699 @ 343.90p Value: £638,619Legal & General Group (LGEN) Director name: Mr Mark ZinkulaAmount sold: 81,946 @ 236.93p Value: £194,155BC