RBS Completes Management Shakeup

LONDON (AP) — Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC named three new senior executives on Wednesday to complete a management shakeup at the part-nationalized bank, marking the end of the era of heavily criticized former CEO Fred Goodwin.

RBS, which was rescued in a taxpayer-funded bailout late last year, said that Australia and New Zealand Banking Group executive Brian Hartzer will takeover responsibility from Gordon Pell for the bank's U.K. retail, wealth and Ulster Bank divisions. Pell will continue as deputy chief executive of the bank throughout the transition period until his previously announced retirement early next year.

The bank had announced on Tuesday that finance director Guy Whittaker would step down in October, allowing time to find a replacement.

Whittaker and Pell are the last two executive directors on the board who had served with Goodwin, who resigned last year.

Goodwin was blamed for pursuing a financially disastrous takeover of the Dutch Bank ABN Amro, which plunged RBS into a British record loss of 24.1 billion pounds ($36.2 billion) in 2008. The government stepped in to rescue the bank, and now holds 70.3 percent of its shares.

In other management moves, Paul Geddes, currently head of U.K. Retail, will join the Executive Committee as chief of RBS Insurance and Chris Sullivan, currently head of RBS Insurance, to become head of U.K. Corporate Banking Division.