State-backed bank RBS announces losses of £1.1bn for 2010, but will still pay almost £1bn in bonuses.
Union reaction
Len McCluskey, general secretary of the Unite union, said: "Taxpayers will today be baffled as to how it is possible that, while we own 84 per cent of this bank, it continues to so handsomely reward their investment bankers.
"This is an institution in which over 21,000 frontline and support staff have been sacked and RBS still refuse to lend enough to small businesses but bonuses are free-flowing.
"Because of our taxpayer funding, RBS is gradually recovering from the mess caused by their greedy bankers. Yet the Chancellor continues to tolerate the award of some £950m in bonuses to the culprits, instead of ensuring our taxes do not become worthless.
"It is well overdue that the £20bn public bail-out is acknowledged and the workers who are working tirelessly to ensure this company improves are protected, rather than the risk-taking bankers."
'There has to be a change in the way the City works - or there'll be another crash'
Geraint Anderson is a former City worker and writer of City Boy: Fear and Loathing in the City. He told Channel 4 News the system must change.
"Through clever accounting you can pretend that you've made your bank millions and so rake in massive bonuses despite the fact that you know full well that these toxic loans are bound to explode at a later date because housing bubbles don’t last for ever. You simply don't care. You've fooled the system and are going to get at least four or five huge end of year pay days that mean you can retire as soon as the whole house of cards comes crashing down.
"This, I'm afraid, is exactly what has happened at the beginning of this millennium. The short-term, asymmetrical nature of the investment banks' bonus system means that ruthless, savvy bankers had no qualms about infecting the world with over a trillion dollars of dodgy loans backed up by mortgages that poor Americans simply couldn’t afford. They exploded and created a recession that led to millions losing their jobs but the bankers didn't care because the money kept rolling in before it became clear that the emperor was wearing no clothes.
"That's why there has to be a change in the way the City works and, I'm afraid, as the state-owned RBS hands out almost £1bn in bonuses in doesn't look like there is. Unless the banks' incentive system is made to encourage longer-term thinking and reduce the benefits of short-term, reckless gambling and cheating we will have another banker-based crisis over the next decade … and if that happens then surely this time there will be blood on the streets!"
Read more from Geraint Anderson: 'No one becomes an investment banker to save the world' 
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