April 3 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc said it will cut more jobs as the bank indicated former Chief Executive Officer Fred Goodwin is considering a request to return part of his 703,000-pound ($1 million) annual pension.

The job cuts will be in addition to 2,700 previously announced by RBS, Britain’s biggest government-controlled bank said before the bank’s annual shareholders meeting, which began at 1 p.m. in Edinburgh. Deputy CEO Gordon Pell and Parliament’s Scottish Affairs Committee have sparred over job loss estimates.

“We can only be honest and say that this will not be the end of the story and more are expected in the U.K. and internationally in the period ahead,” Chairman Philip Hampton said in an advance copy of his speech to shareholders.

RBS plans to reduce costs by 2.5 billion pounds ($3.7 billion) over three years to help repay a 20 billion-pound taxpayer bailout as quickly as possible, Pell said in a letter to lawmakers this week. RBS has been the focus of public anger because of the pension Goodwin received after he led the bank to the biggest loss in U.K. corporate history.

Hampton said in a Bloomberg Television interview today that he had asked Goodwin to return a portion of the pension.

“A voluntary contribution from him either to the bank or a charity, or whatever, would be well received,” Hampton said in the interview. “He said that he would think about that. How deep his thoughts are I am not sure.”

Sky News cited unidentified sources saying that Goodwin isn’t considering the request. A message left on the mobile phone of Goodwin’s spokesman, Phil Hall, wasn’t immediately returned. Hall’s office said no one else could comment.

‘Public Flogging’

Hampton also said it is time to “end the public flogging” over the bank’s past mistakes.

He blamed previous management for the decision to take over Amsterdam-based ABN Amro Holding NV. RBS would have reported a pretax profit before goodwill impairment last year were it not for the acquisition, Hampton said.

Goodwin bought the Dutch lender’s investment banking assets for 14.3 billion euros in 2007, making RBS one of the world’s biggest banks.

“With the benefit of hindsight it can now be seen as the wrong price, the wrong way to pay, at the wrong time and the wrong deal,” Hampton said in the statement. “That is the painful reality that we can now do nothing to change.”

Goodwin’s pension will be the subject of a non-binding advisory shareholder vote on the bank’s remuneration report during today’s meeting.

‘It Was Outrageous’

Kenneth Watt, a shareholder from Helensburgh, Scotland, said he planned to vote against the remuneration plan.

“There must have been alternatives,” Watt, 69, said before the meeting. “It was outrageous.”

The U.K. government owns 58 percent of RBS and will increase its stake to as much as 75 percent as the bank enters the Treasury-backed asset-insurance program.

U.K. Financial Investments Ltd., which manages the government’s holding in RBS, said this week it will vote against a resolution approving the bank’s remuneration report, including Goodwin’s pension. The shareholder vote is non-binding.

It will be the first time shareholders have rejected a remuneration report since the advisory vote was introduced in 2003, according to Pensions & Investment Research Consultants Ltd. HSBC Holdings Plc last year had the lowest support for a remuneration report at about 82 percent, said spokesman Tom Powdrill.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Macaskill in London at amacaskill@bloomberg.netElliott Gotkine in Edinburgh, through the London newsroom at egotkine@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 3, 2009 08:12 EDT