THE CHIEF executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland could be in line for a whopping bonus of more than £8m, it has been revealed.

Fred Goodwin also has the use of the Edinburgh-based company's £17.5m Dassault Falcon 900 jet, which itself is based in Paris.

The company, which employs more than 800 people in Southampton and the surrounding area, announced record profits of £6.2 billion just weeks ago.

Mr Goodwin, nicknamed 'Fred the Shred' after his staff and cost cutting regime following the RBS's take-over of Nat West, could qualify for a bonus of up to nine times his salary under a bank scheme.

The RBS has a complex bonus scheme tied to its performance relative to competitors. According to Manifest, the proxy voting service, If the RBS performs among the top ten per cent of ten rivals over a three-year period, directors will hit the jackpot and unlock as much as 900 per cent of their annual salary.

The father of two, who professes to love nothing so much as tinkering under the hood of his Triumph Stag, has made no comment on either the jet or his remuneration.

A spokesman for the bank, which has branches across Hampshire, said the bonus scheme had been approved by shareholders back in 2001 and said the final value of the award would depend on the company share price at the end of the year.

Mr Goodwin got a boost to his salary last year to £3.4m after getting a one-off bonus for completing the acquisition of Natwest the year before. He also had £774,000 added to his pension during 2003 as well as receiving £1.9m in cash, salary and bonuses that year.