NatWest Group is moving towards the appointment of a permanent successor to Dame Alison Rose after hiring headhunters to assist its new chairman with the search.
Sky News understands that Heidrick & Struggles has been enlisted by the state-backed bank’s board , weeks before it publishes its annual results.
City sources said that Heidrick’s appointment had been made with the support of Rick Haythornthwaite, NatWest’s chairman-designate, who joined the board earlier this month and takes over from Sir Howard Davies in April.
The search for a permanent successor to Dame Alison, who left last summer amid the furore created by her inaccurate briefing to a BBC journalist about former UKIP leader Nigel Farage’s finances, is expected to reach a swift conclusion, according to shareholders in the bank.
Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, has outlined plans to offer a significant chunk of the government’s remaining 36% stake in NatWest to ordinary investors through a retail offer, with the general election timing and the bank’s financial calendar meaning that a mid-year sale is likely to be the only viable window to do so.
Having a new chief executive in place is viewed as being essential for such a sale to happen.
Paul Thwaite, the former head of NatWest’s commercial banking business, has stepped in to replace Dame Alison on an interim basis, and fellow executives regard him as a credible choice to land the job permanently.
Brexit: Why meat, fish, cheese and dairy products will cost more from today
House prices up 0.7% from December to January, Nationwide says
Universal Music threatens to pull songs from TikTok in row over payment negotiations
The government has been steadily reducing its holding in recent years, having at one stage owned more than 80% of what was then called Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
British taxpayers injected £45.5bn into RBS in 2008 to prevent a collapse which would have had dramatic consequences for the wider global banking system.
Be the first to get Breaking News
Install the Sky News app for free
NatWest declined to comment.
