THE debate over whether Ross McEwan’s tenure as chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland has been a success will rage on.
In the credit column, the New Zealander can point to some pretty big pluses, not least in steering the bank back to profit, resuming dividends and consigning the bulk of the state-owned institution’s legacy issues to the past. Less positively, Mr McEwan can hardly claim to have emerged with his reputation intact following the scandal at the bank’s Global Restructuring Group, which laid bare a catalogue of mistreatment of business customers by management at the institution.
The bank’s relentless branch closure programme under Mr McEwan’s watch has not helped its standing in communities around Scotland either.
What is certainly clear is that, though great strides have been taken to restore the bank to health over the last five years, whoever succeeds him will have their work cut out too.
As the bank’s first quarter results showed yesterday, margins are under real pressure from intense competition in the mortgage market, a predicament all the more acute in an ultra-low interest rate environment. At the same time, Brexit uncertainty is stalling business investment, strangling a key source of income with customers seemingly less willing to take on debt.
The bank has already set aside £100 million to deal with bad debts rising in the event of a no-deal Brexit. While the bank gave no indication of making further provision yesterday, the lack of clarity around the UK’s exit from the EU remains a major concern.
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