RBS Investment Bank Chairman Rory Cullinan to Leave Lender

By Max Colchester 

The chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC's investment bank, Rory Cullinan, will leave the lender next month after a disagreement over the bank's strategy, the bank said in a statement Monday.

Mr. Cullinan, who was praised for slimming RBS down following its taxpayer bailout, decided to leave after failing to agree with management over how to execute the bank's strategy to cut down its corporate and investment bank, according to people familiar with the matter. Mr. Cullinan, who was only appointed to his new role last month, didn't answer calls for comment. RBS said that he will leave the bank on April 30.

The departure is a blow for the lender, which is 80% owned by the government, as it has lost a number of senior executives in recent years. Mr. Cullinan was one of the few top RBS executives to be granted a bonus after successfully managing down RBS's so-called bad bank last year. In February the bank said Mr. Cullinan would be put in charge of scaling back its investment bank to focus more on its U.K. client base.

RBS's plans include exiting corporate- and investment-banking operations in about two dozen locations including Hong Kong and Australia. The bank will retain only London, Stamford, Conn., and Singapore for full-service sales and trading, which will mainly serve Western European companies and financial firms.

Mr. Cullinan, who was a close ally of Stephen Hester, RBS's previous chief executive officer, was recently criticized by politicians after the Sun newspaper obtained social media messages between him and his daughter, where he allegedly described his job as boring.

Chris Marks, CEO of Corporate & Institutional Banking, and Mark Bailie, CEO of Capital Resolution, will now join the bank Executive Committee as CO-CEOS of Corporate & Institutional Banking, RBS said in a statement.

Write to Max Colchester at [e-mail]

Access Investor Kit for Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc

Visit http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=GB00B7T77214

Access Investor Kit for Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc

Visit http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US7800976893

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires