The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) recently appointed Alison Rose as the Chief Executive, making her the first woman to lead the bank and the first woman to lead one of UK’s big four banks that include HSBC, Barclays, and Lloyds Banking Group.
Rose currently leads the commercial and private banking division at RBS. She will replace the incumbent Chief Ross McEwan in November this year. McEwan is due to join the National Australia Bank as the Chief Executive Officer.
“Following a rigorous internal and external process, I am confident that we have appointed the best person for the job,” RBS Chairman Howard Davies said in a statement.
She is to receive a fixed salary of 1.1 million pounds, slightly higher than the base pay of 1 million pounds that McEwan was paid.
She had joined the bank as a graduate trainee close to three decades back and has served in leadership roles such as the head of non-investment grade origination in the bond market. In fact, Rose joined NatWest right after finishing her university in 1992. Natwest was, subsequently, acquired by RBS in 2000.
With her promotion to the CEO, RBS now has two women in leading positions – Katie Murray was promoted to the Chief Financial Officer earlier this year.
Rose has a challenging journey ahead in her role as the chief of RBS. She is tasked with strengthening the damaged reputation of the bank post a series of scandals that include substandard treatment of struggling business customers. Further, she is tasked with returning the bank to private hands – RBS is majorly owned by the UK government, which owns a 62 per cent stake in it after it was bailed out by taxpayers’ money during the economic crisis of 2008.
Wishing that we see many more women in leadership positions in the financial sector!
