Yahoo News RBS set for banking milestone by naming Murray as CFO
The state-backed Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS.L - news) (RBS) is poised to name Katie Murray as its finance chief, an appointment that would represent a milestone in the male-dominated boardrooms of the UK's biggest lenders.
Sky News understands that RBS is awaiting clearance from the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), the banking watchdog, to announce Ms Murray as its chief financial officer.
She (Munich: SOQ.MU - news) has been in the role on an interim basis since the summer, when Ewen Stevenson left to join HSBC Holdings (Frankfurt: 923893 - news) .
Sources said an announcement about Ms Murray's appointment to the permanent role could come as early as this week.
The acting finance chief is said to have impressed colleagues and City analysts during her brief stint in the post, which has coincided with a turbulent period for shares in RBS and the wider banking sector amid deepening Brexit uncertainty.
Ms Murray had been viewed as the leading internal candidate to replace Mr Stevenson but faced competition from external contenders including William Chalmers, a veteran financial institutions banker at Morgan Stanley (Xetra: 885836 - news) .
If her appointment is approved by regulators, Ms Murray will be part of the team overseeing RBS's implementation of the ring-fencing regime which comes into effect next month, more than a decade after the bank was rescued with £45.5bn of taxpayers' money.
Ross McEwan, RBS's chief executive, is expected to retire from the role in 2020, with Alison Rose, another senior executive at the group, the likeliest internal candidate to succeed him.
If Ms Murray and Ms Rose both landed those jobs, it would be a landmark moment in British banking with women holding the top two executive posts.
RBS's recovery has been accelerating over the last 12 months as it has returned to profit and restored dividend payments to shareholders a decade after its bailout.
Earlier this year, the Treasury reduced its shareholding to 62.4% by offloading a 7.7% stake to institutional investors.
In his budget, Philip Hammond, the chancellor, outlined plans to sell the remainder of the government's stake during the next five years.
RBS declined to comment on Tuesday.
