NatWest has announced that a former Centrica boss will be its next chair, as the lender continues to deal with the fallout from the scandal surrounding the threatened closure of Nigel Farage’s bank accounts.
Rick Haythornthwaite – who previously chaired Network Rail and Mastercard as well as the British Gas owner and now leads the boardrooms of Ocado and the AA – will take over from Howard Davies next April.
However, Haythornthwaite will join the board in January, four months before the formal handover, when he will kickstart the search for a new NatWest chief executive. The banking group’s former boss, Alison Rose, resigned last month amid the row with Farage.
NatWest’s senior independent director, Mark Seligman, said: “Rick is a highly experienced chair who combines a successful commercial career with a deep knowledge of financial services markets and technology, as well as a strong track record of delivery at significant customer-facing organisations.”
Davies announced earlier this year that he would retire from his post by the summer of 2024, and said in July that the search for his successor would continue in a “completely normal” manner. That was despite mounting speculation that Davies could be pushed to follow in the footsteps of Rose.
The former Ukip leader took to X, the site formerly known as Twitter, to complain about the timeline for Davies’s departure on Wednesday. Farage wrote: “The idea that Sir Howard Davies is being allowed to see out his term as chairman of NatWest Group is a classic case of the establishment closing ranks. Both Alison Rose and Howard Davies should have been sacked.”
The idea that Sir Howard Davies is being allowed to see out his term as chairman of @NatWestGroup is a classic case of the establishment closing ranks. Both Alison Rose and Howard Davies should have been sacked. https://t.co/edesXORuh0
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) September 6, 2023
Rose’s resignation came weeks after it emerged that Coutts – the NatWest-owned private bank for the ultra-wealthy – had planned to shut Farage’s bank account, partly due to the fact that he had fallen below the bank’s multimillion-pound account thresholds.
However, documents obtained from Coutts by Farage also suggested that the bank had decided to close his accounts due to concerns over his political views, which it said did not align with the bank’s values. Lenders are not allowed to deny services on the basis of political views.
The controversy gathered pace after Rose admitted to discussing the matter with a BBC journalist, in an alleged breach of client confidentiality that raised concerns in government and eventually led to her resignation.
The UK government is NatWest’s largest shareholder, with a 38.5% stake, having stepped in to protect savers by bailing out the lender during the 2008 financial crisis.
NatWest, which is currently being steered by interim chief executive Paul Thwaite, is due to reveal the findings of an internal investigation relating to the scandal by the end of October.
In the meantime, Farage has said that Coutts has offered to maintain his accounts.
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Davies, 72, is a former deputy governor of the Bank of England, and was director of the London School of Economics before joining NatWest as chair in September 2015. He was also the inaugural chair of the City watchdog, the Financial Services Authority, before it was disbanded after the financial crash and revived, in part, through the Financial Conduct Authority.
NatWest confirmed on Wednesday that Davies would not receive any extra payments, often referred to as a “golden goodbye”, when he leaves his post.
Hawthornthwaite’s pay, meanwhile, will be in line with his predecessor: £775,000 a year. He will step down from nearly all of his outside commitments, but remain as chair of Ocado, where he was paid £384,000 in 2022, according to its latest annual report.
He will also stay on the board of the AA, but will move from his current role as chair to a non-executive director role. The AA did not disclose Haythornthwaite’s pay.
NatWest confirmed last month that Rose is still likely to collect £2.4m as she serves out her 12-month notice period. However, a portion of her pay could be clawed back, depending on the outcome of the investigation into the Farage affair. Last year, NatWest was criticised for handing her a £5.2m pay package.
Haythornthwaite said: “It is a privilege to assume the role of NatWest Group chair. I am inheriting a very different NatWest compared to my predecessor; one that is more customer-focused, financially resilient and well positioned to maintain its recent strong performance.”
