Key Appointments Completed at Royal Bank of Scotland Group

A series of key management appointments are announced today by Fred Goodwin, Group Chief Executive of The Royal Bank of Scotland. The appointments cover a series of group and central functions, and follow the announcement earlier this month of the appointment of the heads of seven customer-facing divisions.

Mr Goodwin said: "These appointments meet our commitment to put in place the key executives who will be responsible for bringing together the enlarged Royal Bank of Scotland Group. Today’s announcement also marks the creation of our new manufacturing division which will bring together the service, technology and operations functions which support our front line staff."

Mark Fisher currently Chief Operations Officer, Retail Banking Services, NatWest, becomes Chief Executive, Manufacturing. As announced in The Royal Bank of Scotland Group’s Offer Document, the role of the new manufacturing division will include bringing together back office technology and processing activities for The Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest. Martin Webb (58), currently Director, Technology, Royal Bank of Scotland, is Director, IT Development and Services. John White (57), currently Project Director, Group Business Re-engineering, Royal Bank of Scotland is Director, IT Integration.

In his current role at NatWest, Mr Fisher has overall responsibility for the systems and 12,000 staff who form the operational core of the NatWest Group, and has extensive experience of large change management programmes. A career banker, he has a first class honours degree in mathematics and an MBA from Warwick Business School.

Grahame Whitehead currently Finance and Risk Director, UK Bank, at The Royal Bank of Scotland, becomes Group Chief Financial Officer. Mr Whitehead is a chartered accountant who joined the Bank in 1986 from Deloitte Haskins & Sells where he was partner-in-charge for corporate advisory services. Following the acquisition of Citizens Finance Group in the US he was appointed Executive Vice-President Corporate Planning and Control, and was heavily involved in the design of the integration process which underpins Citizens record of 17 successful acquisitions and the subsequent achievement of cost and revenue targets.

A separate company announcement announcing that Richard Delbridge currently Chief Financial Officer of NatWest, is to leave the organisation and will resign his directorship at NatWest Bank on April 30, 2000, is attached.

Miller McLean is Group Director, Legal and Regulatory Affairs and Group Secretary, responsible for legal and company secretarial services, including corporate governance, regulatory compliance, and stock exchange listings. A career banker and qualified solicitor, he has played a key role in many of the strategic developments in The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, particularly in acquisitions and disposals and the creation of joint ventures.

Iain Allan is Group Director, Strategy, responsible for formulating and developing the Group’s strategic planning. A qualified actuary, he has also been directly involved in all The Royal Bank of Scotland Group’s acquisitions and disposals and joint ventures since he joined in 1994. He joined The Royal Bank of Scotland Group from Scottish Amicable, and was previously with UBS Phillips & Drew, based in London and Tokyo. He is a visiting professor in actuarial studies at the City University London.

Howard Moody is Group Director, Communications, responsible for all the Group’s internal and external communications. Before joining The Royal Bank of Scotland Group in 1996 he was based in Prague, where he was the principal adviser to the Czech government for the attraction of foreign investment. Prior to that he was the Scottish Development Agency’s Director of Marketing, having previously managed the North American operations of Locate in Scotland from New York.

Neil Roden is Group Director, Human Resources. He joined The Royal Bank of Scotland Group in 1997 from National Australia Group, where he was General Manager, Human Resources, Europe. During his five years with the National Australia Group he was responsible for human resources issues during a time of strategic change in the constituent banks, including Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks. He was previously with Lloyds Bowmaker.