Stephen Hester, chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, is to forgo his bonus for 2009, media reports said, a move that would follow a similar decision by senior managers at Barclays last week.

Mr Hester’s decision would be seen as a way for RBS – parent of UK private bank Coutts & Co – to defuse the continuing political and media storm over bonus payments to executives. The issue is particularly sensitive as RBS has received billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money after the credit crunch. High bonuses have been blamed for helping to encourage the sort of risky financial bets associated with the credit crunch.

The bonus would have amounted to more than £1.6 million (around $2.5 million), the Financial Times said.

The UK Treasury and UK Financial Investments, the government body responsible for its bank shareholdings, are set this week to decide whether to sign off on the proposed bonus pots at RBS and Lloyds.

One person close to Mr Hester said: “He will do whatever is necessary to secure the commercial future of the bank”, the FT reported.