RBS names Frank Dangeard director as Williams & Glyn divestment saga continues

Royal Bank of Scotland has appointed Frank Dangeard as a non-executive director with immediate effect and against the backcloth of its IT-plagued struggle to divest the Williams & Glyn unit.

Dangeard, a former banker and senior company executive, has substantial board-level experience across a variety of sectors, among them IT, technology, telecom and financial.

RBS is, as part of its bailout, required to dispose of branches. In late April it warned of a significant risk that it would be unable to complete the Williams & Glyn disposal process by end-2017.

It has said that creating a new technology platform for Williams & Glyn continued to be challenging, suggesting it would seek alternatives for divestment.

Reports have it that RBS is mulling a larger sell-off, with Williams & Glyn able to use NatWest’s systems.

HSBC Global Research said key issues for RBS going forward included finding an assured exit from Williams & Glyn, settlement of US residential mortgage-backed securities and conduct issues, along with a successful outcome to Bank of England’s 2016 stress test.

“The most critical element within (RBS’) Q1 results was confirmation that, due to the complexities of creating a cloned banking platform, the timetable to achieve separation of Williams & Glyn might be pushed out beyond end 2017,” HSBC Global Research said in a research note.

“Aside from concern that this would delay the first dividend distribution, failure to meet this deadline might result in the group being in breach of its State Aid Commitment resulting in the imposition of additional remedies.

“In any event the financial cost of separation is likely to be significantly greater than the original estimate of £1.1bn (treated as a restructuring charge).”