RBS to select Alison Rose to become first female chief executive
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is set to pick Alison Rose to become its new chief executive.
Rose will become the first woman to lead one of the UK’s biggest high street lenders and is likely to be named as Ross McEwan’s successor in the coming weeks, Sky News claim.
Read more: Outgoing RBS boss Ross McEwan to take top job at National Australia Bank
Banking regulators are currently taking RBS’s application to appoint her under consideration, sources said.
RBS announced in April that New Zealander McEwan would be stepping down within the year and he has since announced he will join National Australia Bank as its chief executive.
There had been doubts about whether frontrunner Rose would land the role following external competition from Ian Stuart, who runs HSBC’s UK bank.
Rose’s appointment would make RBS the first of the leading four lenders – including Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group – to have a female chair.
RBS also has a female finance chief in Katie Murray, who was appointed in 2018.
Santander UK’s chair, Baroness Vadera, is currently the most senior woman in the British banking industry.
RBS’s new chief executive will have to contend with the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, low interest rates and global trade tensions.
Rose has worked at RBS for more than 25 years, predominantly in investment bank roles, and is currently the deputy chief executive of NatWest as well as the chief executive of commercial and private banking across the group.
Read more: Barclays and RBS among banks hit by £1bn forex rigging lawsuit
RBS told Sky News on Saturday: “The process to appoint Ross McEwan’s successor is ongoing.
“Our next CEO will be confirmed in due course, once an appointment has been made.”