‘Rebranding’ row at disgraced bank unit

NEARLY ALL of the senior staff at Royal Bank of Scotland’s new turnaround unit for small businesses also worked in the controversial division accused of widespread mistreatment of small enterprises, it has been revealed.

The influential Treasury Select Committee said information provided by RBS showed 30 of the 32 current employees at senior manager grade or above within RBS Restructuring previously worked in its heavily criticised Global Restructuring Group (GRG).

It added that 136 of 182 – 75 per cent – of total current RBS Restructuring employees previously worked in GRG.

Nicky Morgan, the chairwoman of the cross-party group of MPs, said the discovery suggested the overhauled turnaround division at the bank may have been a mere “rebranding exercise”. She is now demanding that RBS provides details of how staff training and rewards had been changed to ensure the “toxic culture” within GRG has been stamped out. RBS has been dogged by allegations that GRG intentionally pushed small businesses towards failure in the hope of picking up their assets on the cheap. An RBS spokesman said: “The culture, structure and way RBS operates today have all changed fundamentally since the period under review and we have made significant changes to deal with the issues of the past, including how we treat customers in financial distress.”