RBS may use bonus pot to recoup Libor losses: FT

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland is considering recouping half of its imminent penalty for its role in a global interest rate rigging scandal from the 2012 bonus pool of its investment bankers, the Financial Times reported.

The bank may seek to divert up to 150 million pounds ($242 million) of the bonus pot to fund a fine that is expected to be more than 300 million pounds, the newspaper cited people close to RBS's board as saying on Friday.

The FT said a final decision was not expected until next month but if 150 million pounds was recouped in this way, it would be equivalent to nearly 40 percent of the bonus pool paid to its investment bankers in 2011.

RBS was not immediately available to comment.

The part-nationalized British bank is considering whether two senior executives should leave over the alleged manipulation of the London interbank offered rate (Libor) and other benchmark rates.

(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Gary Hill)