Royal Bank of Scotland is to cut its chief executive's 2011 bonus to £963,000 (around $1.5 million) in the wake of public and political pressure to curb pay at the partly state-owned bank, parent of Coutts, the private bank.

RBS has allocated Stephen Hester a 2011 annual performance award of £3.6 million shares, worth £963,000 based on its closing share price of 26.75 pence when it made its decision on the bonus payment earlier this week, media reports said.

The size of the bonus is down from Hester's share-based bonus of £2 million for 2010 and will also be deferred; this means Hester will not be able to cash them in full until late 2014.