Nathan Bostock is leaving RBS at an inopportune moment. The British bank’s finance director, who has only been in his role since October, is suddenly quitting for a better job (deputy chief executive) at Santander UK.
RBS has reason to feel annoyed. This is the second time that Bostock has quit the bank following a better offer from a rival. The first time was in 2011 when he accepted a job as the head of Lloyds’ wholesale group, but was persuaded to stay by Stephen Hester, then RBS CEO.
Now Hester’s gone and Bostock is leaving new RBS CEO Ross McEwan in the lurch. As the Financial Times points out, RBS is creating a bad bank and McEwan is due to present a major strategic review in February. Bostock was to have been integral to both initiatives. McEwan is said to be seeking assurances that other key executives don’t plan to leave too. Are retention payments coming next?
Separately, The Guardian reports that Joyti De-Laurey (now known as Joyti Waswani), the secretary who stole more than £4m from her bosses at Goldman Sachs and spent £300k of it on Cartier jewellery, has set up a consulting firm advising white collar criminals how to handle life in prison.
Prison life isn’t as straightforward as it may seem, says Waswani. Prisoners attack each other with boiled water containing dissolved sugar that adheres to the skin. There is bullying. There are fights. There is also a serious loss of status – Waswani had to pick and measure cucumbers. “I had the sh*ttiest jobs,” she complains.
Meanwhile:
Fidelity Worldwide is setting up a US equity trading desk in London. (Financial News)
Citi CFO John Gerspach said capital markets and underwriting revenues are currently running below their levels of the fourth quarter 2013. (Reuters)
Sam Dean, the popular and experienced head of equity capital markets in Europe at Barclays, is taking a sabbatical for family reasons. (CityAm)
There’s a Volcker Rule. Banks can’t do prop trading, but they can do market making and they can do hedging. How will this be policed? (Bloomberg)
The all-new Volcker Rule will hit Goldman Sachs harder than Morgan Stanley. (Bloomberg)
Tony Blair is worth $123m and will be included on the Sunday Times rich list. (NY Daily News)