RBS chief McEwan puts his money where his mouth is

INVESTORS were in ruthless mood when Royal Bank of Scotland updated the market last week. The signs seemed good – profits up 10 per cent year-on-year – but the bailed-out bank’s share price dropped.

Had shareholders finally lost patience with chief executive Ross McEwan after years of underperformance, fines and scandals?

The dour Kiwi decided it was time to take matters into his own hands and put his money where his mouth is by buying £229,000 of the bank’s shares on Tuesday.

It was McEwan’s first share buy since February 2016. Chairman Sir Howard Davies did the same, snapping up shares for £90,000.

The show of faith appears to have done the trick. The shares are already comfortably above the 230p price McEwan paid.

He’s not the only bank boss dipping into his own pocket. Craig Donaldson, the chief executive of challenger Metro Bank and a former RBS executive, bought £218,000 of shares in his employer. But you could hardly class Donaldson’s purchase as a sign of confidence in Metro. He dumped £2.5million of shares in March. FRESH from a disastrous profit warning less than a month ago, fashion retailer Superdry will update the market again on Thursday.

Expect embattled chief executive Euan Sutherland to take a swipe at company founder Julian Dunkerton, who has been questioning Sutherland’s retail acumen.

Sutherland will be keen to highlight any sales boost in the past few weeks as the weather has cooled. Shares after the profit warning took a major hit – going from 1023p to 710p in a matter of days. The share price has rallied since, up 24 per cent last week to 891p.