Sale warning from finance chief – after he quits
Royal Bank of Scotland lost its finance chief as the lender geared up for its annual meeting, where dividends, branch closures and reprivatisation will be on the agenda.
The state-owned bank said that Ewen Stevenson resigned from his role to “take up an opportunity elsewhere”.
While it is unclear when Mr Stevenson departs, he will remain in his position to oversee an “orderly handover” of his responsibilities.
The search for a successor will begin immediately.
RBS chief executive Ross Mcewan credited him with helping resolve a number of the bank’s “major legacy chal-
lenges” during his tenure. At yesterday’s meeting, Mr Stevenson said the recent slump in European stocks – sparked in part by jitters over the rise of Eurosceptic parties in Italy – might be a cause for pause in the government’s sale of its shares in the bank.
“Obviously, when you look at what’s been happening in the markets in the last few days with Spain and Italy and a significant sell-off in bank stocks, I would be surprised if now is an optimum time to sell stocks,” he said.
The government is already facing a near-£26.2 billion loss on its holding, with the lender’s shares languishing well below the average 502p share price paid during the crisis era bailout, at around 276p.
Mr Stevenson said it was the right time to move on to a new role.
“You’ve seen what we’ve done over the last four to five years – it’s a very natural inflection point given the amount of stuff we’ve now cleaned up at the bank, so it’s a very natural point to go off and do something else,” he said.
“I mean the bank’s back in great shape, ready to be privatised.”