RBS appoints new ABN Amro chief

by Gill Montia

Story link: RBS appoints new ABN Amro chief

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has appointed a new chief executive to ABN Amro, the recently acquired Dutch bank.

The post will be filled by Mark Fisher, a member of the RBS group board. He will replace Rijkman Groenink, who resigned yesterday.

It is reported that Mr Groenink, who had supported a takeover by Barclays, will leave ABN with share options worth €26 million, although any exit payment will not be finalised until after a meeting of the bank’s supervisory board, which will take place by the end of the year.

RSB and its consortium partners have issued a statement confirming that other existing members of the ABN managing board will retain positions although responsibilities will be revised.

RBS chief executive, Sir Fred Goodwin, has put aside criticism that the consortium has overpaid for ABN. This view had been voiced by Barclays’ chief executive, John Varley.

According to Sir Fred, the synergy targets involved in the takeover are achievable and the new owners are not concerned by the fact that they have acquired ABN business exposed to capital markets at a time when global financial markets are highly volatile.