'˜Not my job' to challenge board on closures, says RBS Baroness

A LABOUR Peer is demanding showdown talks with Baroness Noakes - after she claimed it wasn't her job to interfere with RBS branch closures despite being a Non Executive Director.
Baroness Noakes is a non-executive director of RBSBaroness Noakes is a non-executive director of RBS
Baroness Noakes is a non-executive director of RBS

George Foulkes wrote to the former Treasury opposition spokeswoman in his capacity as Age Scotland chair, after being contacted by pensioners hit by the closures of dozens of branches.

He said he hoped she would have raised it at Wednesday’s AGM, but in an email she said: “One thing that I try never to do is mix my business commitments with politics. Another guiding principle is that non-executives should not interfere with the operational decisions of executive, who are paid to run the business on a day to day basis.”

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Furious Lord Foulkes said: “What concerns me most is your belief that non executives should not challenge the executives. That is exactly how RBS got into trouble originally. The NEDs were afraid to challenge Fred Goodwin when he was making some manifestly unwise decisions which resulted in the collapse of the bank.”