NatWest will begin the search for a chairman after Howard Davies announced he would be stepping down from the role.
The 72-year-old has served eight years on the banking group’s board.
‘It is appropriate to initiate the search for my successor,’ Davies said at the bank’s annual general meeting.
Stepping down: NatWest chairman Howard Davies said he is to quit the role after serving eight years on the board
He said he expects the search process and handover to occur before July 2024 when he reaches his nine-year tenure – the maximum the UK Corporate Governance Code recommends that anyone should serve as a board member.
The Manchester-born economist became chairman of NatWest Group in 2015, when it was called the Royal Bank of Scotland Group before a name change in 2020.
During his tenure, he oversaw a return to profitability.
But his time at NatWest hasn’t been all rosy. In 2021, it was the first bank to be fined for money laundering failings and had to pay £265million for improperly monitoring £365million of deposits into the account of a Bradford jeweller.
