RBS appoints former Scottish Enterprise boss Wilson to board of directors

Royal Bank of Scotland has appointed former Scottish Enterprise boss Lena Wilson to its board as a non-executive director to take the place of Sir Sandy Crombie who is to retire.

The move will see the still 73 per cent state-owned bank increase the diversity of its board of directors.

Ms Wilson appointment means that RBS will have four women out of 14 board members when she takes up her position on 1 January.

Ms Wilson stepped down as head of Scottish Enterprise in June, having run the public agency responsible for the economic and business development of Scotland for eight years.

Before her role at Scottish Enterprise, she spent several years at Scottish Development International, the inward investment agency.

She started her career at the World Bank in Washington DC and has been a non-executive director and member of the audit committee of Intertek Group plc since 2012.

Sir Sandy, who was chief executive of the Edinburgh-based insurer Standard Life until 2009, is retiring after more than eight years on the board.

He was its senior independent director and chairman of the board’s performance and remuneration committee – a politically sensitive role because the government’s majority stake in the bank means its pay attracts extra scrutiny.

He is being replaced as the senior independent director by Mark Seligman, a former investment banker at Credit Suisse and SG Warburg who joined the RBS board this year.

Robert Gillespie, another former SG Warburg banker who has been a non-executive director at RBS for four years, is to become chairman of the performance and remuneration committee.

Chairman of RBS, Howard Davies, said: “Sandy Crombie has made an outstanding contribution to the Board of RBS and we have benefitted greatly from his wisdom and experience. The Board and I will miss Sandy’s presence as a much valued colleague and friend, and he leaves RBS with our very best wishes for the future.

“I am delighted that Robert Gillespie will be building on Sandy’s excellent work as Chairman of the Group Performance & Remuneration Committee, and that Mark Seligman is assuming the pivotal role of Senior Independent Director. Robert and Mark are both ideally suited to these positions, and I know they will have much to contribute. Mark will also join the Group Performance & Remuneration Committee.

“Finally, we are very pleased to welcome Dr Lena Wilson as a non-executive director. With her strong public sector and commercial background, I am confident that Lena’s appointment will further strengthen the RBS Board’s composition and we look forward to welcoming her to the Board.”