Former Coca Cola boss becomes RBS’s first chief marketing officer

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group has announced the appointment of former head of advertising at Coca-cola David Wheldon to its new chief marketing officer role.

The newly-created position has responsibility for all aspects of brand, marketing, communication, and corporate responsibility across the still 80 per cent state-owned bank’s operations.

He will report directly to chief executive Ross McEwan and he will sit as a member of the Edinburgh-based bank’s executive committee.

Ross McEwan said: “I am delighted that we have recruited someone of David’s experience to this new and important role. The creation of this position sends a clear message about how we want to do business and backs up our intent to move the bank on to a new footing. Last year we set out on a clear path to make RBS the number one bank for customer service, trust and advocacy and have already made progress in becoming a simpler and fairer bank that puts the needs of customers at the core of everything we do. David will be an excellent addition to the management team and I look forward to working with him when he takes up the position.”

Mr Wheldon’s experience includes time spent as global brand director for Vodafone as well as senior roles at global agency WPP and Coca-Cola. More recently, he has been leading brand, reputation, citizenship and marketing for Barclays.

Speaking ahead of his latest appointment, which he takes up in July, Mr Wheldon said: “This is a really exciting time to be joining RBS, the strategy and vision are clear, a great amount of the groundwork to rebuild trust and reputation has been done and I am really looking forward to helping to play a role in ensuring that that our customers are the most satisfied and loyal in the sector.”