Royal Bank of Scotland has become the latest leading company to lose its finance director after Fred Watt, who has been in the job for five years, decided to leave the banking group to spend more time with his family.
Mr Watt, the charismatic and highly respected head of Royal Bank of Scotland’s finance department, said in a statement this morning that he didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity of watching his young family grow up. Both of Mr Watt’s children are under five years old.
Mr Watt said today: “I have a very young family and consider myself very fortunate to be able to make the choice to spend more time with them. I can’t put their growing up on hold - my family is my number one priority.”
Mr Watt has presided over a period of dramatic expansion at the bank under Sir Fred Goodwin, the group chief executive. The bank has embarked a series of acquisitions, particularly in the United States, and has recently embarked on plans to expand in China.
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The bank has also been linked with potential bank takeovers in Europe, including of Dutch bank ABN Amro.
A spokesman for Royal Bank of Scotland said the bank has already begun the search for a replacement and has hired headhunters to interview both internal and external candidates. He declined to be drawn on suitable contenders, either in or outside the bank.
The spokesman stressed there would be an “orderly handover” and that if a suitable replacement is not easily found Mr Watt may well stay on into next year.
A host of British companies have recently parted company with executives at the top of their finance departments, including Boots, the chemists chain, Marks & Spencer and J Sainsbury, the retail groups, Cookson, the industrial materials firm and Emap, the media group.
Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland rose 30p, or 1.78 per cent, to 1,715p towards the end of the morning session in London.