A former deputy boss of RBS slated by MPs following a probe into the mistreatment of small business customers has resurfaced at Santander - to run its small business and corporate unit.
Chris Sullivan was deputy chief executive of RBS but left at the end of 2014. He was one of two RBS executives accused of being “wilfully obtuse” when giving evidence to MPs in June 2014.
An RBS department overseen by Sullivan, the global restructuring group (GRG), was the focus of allegationsthat it forced viable small businesses to the brink so that the bank could buy up their properties and make a profit.
Sullivan told the Treasury select committee that the unit was not run as a profit centre, but later admitted that on an accounting basis the operation was run that way.
He quit RBS on 31 December 2014, in what was widely seen as an early departure. But a year later he has been appointed head of Santander’s corporate and commercial business, where will be reunited with Nathan Bostock, a former RBS executive now Santander’s UK chief.
It is understood that the duo are leading a bid for the 300 Williams and Glyn branches which are to be carved out of RBS. The sale of the branches is being forced upon RBS by the EU under the terms of its £45bn taxpayer bailout in 2008. One other bidder is believed to also be in the race for the branches.
In a statement, Bostock said Sullivan brings “an enormous wealth of experience” to Santander. He said: “There is no one more qualified than Chris to guide our corporate and commercial business [and] to deliver clients a new banking experience. That experience is one that is truly customer centric, and one that is simple, personal and fair.”
Santander has until now been seen as a retail bank, made up largely of the mortgages and savings business acquired when the Spanish giant bought Abbey National in 2003. It is also regarded as having had a ‘good’ financial crisis, snapping up the walking wounded of the credit crunch, including Alliance & Leicester and the savings business and branches of Bradford & Bingley.
Sullivan’s appointment will be seen as a signal that the bank will now focus on expanding its corporate business.
Sullivan said: “I am delighted to be joining Nathan and his senior team in the UK as we seek to create a leading force in UK corporate and commercial banking.”
In September, Santander UK outlined its plans to meet regulatory imposed rules to ‘ring fence’ retail businesses from corporate businesses, which are designed to limit the exposure of the taxpayer to corporate losses.
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