Finance chief goes in RBS clear-out
PART-NATIONALISED Royal Bank of Scotland’s clear-out of Sir Fred Goodwin’s former regime continued yesterday as finance director Guy Whittaker agreed to step down.
Mr Whittaker – who joined the trobuled bank three years ago – was part of the board which agreed its disastrous bid for ABN Amro in 2007.
As finance director he has also presided over the biggest loss in UK corporate history – the £24.1bn posted by RBS in February.
RBS is keen to avoid a repeat of accusations over “rewards for failure“ after details of Sir Fred’s hugely controversial £703,000 pension emerged.
A spokesman said that Mr Whittaker – who is paid £829,000 – would receive no bonus, had waived his long-term share options and would be receiving no special pension arrangements, unlike the controversial former chief executive.
But because he is on a contract with 12 months’ notice and is expected to leave by October, he will effectively be paid for six months after leaving the troubled bank.
Chief executive Stephen Hester said Mr Whittaker – who joined the bank after 25 years at Citigroup – had “one of the most demanding roles at RBS’’.
Speaking yesterday, he said the finance director had “given everything to assist our creation of a new direction for RBS and give it the best chance of success”.
“Now that we have passed the 2008 year end and are fully focused on the three-to-five year journey ahead to standalone health, it is a logical time to make changes,” Mr Hester added.
With the departure of Mr Whittaker, only regional markets chairman Gordon Pell will remain from Sir Fred’s team.
RBS was forced to write off billions on the ABN Amro deal and soaring bad debts.
The taxpayer now owns more than 70% of the bank after pumping in £20bn to prop up the business.
The public sector is also exposed to billions more in potential losses after RBS placed hundreds of billions of toxic debts in a Treasury-backed insurance scheme – which could see the taxpayer stake in the bank rise as high as 95%.
RBS, which will give its latest trading update on Friday, announced 9,000 job cuts in April as the firm looks to make £2.5bn in cost savings over the next three years.
