RBS names chief risk officer'¦ as GRG deadline set

Royal Bank of Scotland has named Bruce Fletcher as its new group chief risk officer.
Bruce Fletcher is set to replace David Stephen. Picture: Roy RileyBruce Fletcher is set to replace David Stephen. Picture: Roy Riley
Bruce Fletcher is set to replace David Stephen. Picture: Roy Riley

Fletcher currently holds a similar title at HSBC’s global retail banking and wealth management business. He will replace David Stephen, who is moving to Westpac following an “orderly handover of his responsibilities”.

Fletcher is described as a “banking veteran” with more than 35 years’ experience, having spent the majority of his career at HSBC and Citigroup, in both London and New York.

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The appointment comes after HSBC last month hired RBS’s Ewen Stevenson as its new finance director.

RBS chief executive, Ross McEwan, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Bruce to RBS; he brings significant experience and expertise to the role.

“Bruce is an excellent addition to our team and his appointment will further strengthen our risk function.

“I would also like to thank David for his substantial contribution to RBS and driving forward the cultural change that has taken place at this bank. He leaves with our best wishes for the future.”

Fletcher added: “I am delighted to be joining the RBS team. The bank has made good progress and has great potential and I look forward to building on this further in the future.”

The Scottish banking giant’s new group chief risk officer spent 17 years at Citigroup, where he was a managing director and senior credit officer, and began his career at Irving Trust Bank in New York.

He graduated from the College of William & Mary in Virginia.

Meanwhile, time is running out for small businesses to lodge complaints over the way they were treated by RBS’s controversial restructuring unit.

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RBS announced today that the Global Restructuring Group (GRG) complaints process would close to new claims on 22 October, nearly two years after its launch.

It has so far offered a total of £125 million to victims of GRG, the now defunct turnaround unit that has been accused of pushing firms towards failure in the hope of picking up assets on the cheap.

Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) national chairman, Mike Cherry, said: “From the outset, the GRG redress process has moved at a snail’s pace.

“A decade on from many of these cases arising, we still have a situation where a third of claims are unresolved.

“The independent consideration of consequential loss claims only started a few weeks ago. Now we’re being told it’s ending in the very near future.”