Anyone would think RBS bankers are about to flood out of Bishopsgate like small animals deserting a sinking ship. Financial News claims RBS staff have been frantically telephoning headhunters, with one claiming to have received more than 150 CVs since news of the new bonus programme broke.

Once the dust has settled, however, RBS bankers may start to feel rather pleased with their new packages, the virtues of which appear to have been obscured in a media smokescreen.

In the first place, and as we predicted yesterday, RBS may not be paying cash, but it is paying in paper, a large proportion of which can be immediately convertible into cash.

More precisely, staff at Bishopsgate will be informed of their bonus numbers for this year around April 2010. Following that, most of them will receive 50% of their total payout in June 2010, in the form of debt or equity that can be sold immediately. A further 25% will be deferred until June 2011, with the remaining 25% deferred until June 2012.

A few hundred senior staff and managers will have a marginally more punitive arrangement. They will receive only 33% of this year’s payout in June 2010, with a further 33% in June 2011, and another 33% in June 2012.

Only executive directors will receive nothing in June 2010 – they will be forced to wait until 2012 until they get anything at all.

For the bulk of staff at RBS, therefore, the new arrangement doesn’t look too bad.

They may not be receiving any cash this year, but they’re receiving something as good as cash. This is far preferable to what they got for 2008: none of last year’s payment was available to be cashed this year – the first tranche will only vest in June 2010.

Moreover, RBS’s deferral programme looks generous alongside that of other banks: they’re paying 33-50% of bonuses upfront, BarCap is rumoured to be paying 25%, with the remainder deferred over five years.