RBS boss Hester nudged out as bank seeks leader to guide sale

Royal Bank of Scotland Group boss Stephen Hester will step down later this year, after the bank’s board decided it wanted new leadership to oversee the sale of Britain’s majority stake in the bank, which could take years.

Hester said on Wednesday he would have liked to carry on at the helm for the start of the sale of the government’s 81 per cent stake, which could happen before the next election in 2015.

However, the bank said the 52-year-old had been unable to make an open-ended commitment to remain as chief executive, having held the role for five years, and that the board believed a change at the top now would give the new CEO time to prepare for the government sale and lead it in the years following.

Political and industry sources told Reuters that RBS’s chairman, Philip Hampton, initiated talks with Britain’s finance minister, George Osborne, last week to discuss possible leadership changes at the bank.

Hester admitted that the decision to leave had not been his and said he had been willing to stay on to oversee the start of the bank’s return to private ownership.

“It is a board decision, not mine, but I am comfortable with the rationale. I was prepared to carry on through privatisation,” he told reporters on a conference call.