Backgrounder: Bank FDs feel the crunch
Bank FDs are falling like, well, banks. But not all are suffering in the global financial crisis
Sir Fred Goodwin, once of Touche Ross but better known as ‘Fred the Shred’ in
his role as the boss of RBS, has become the highest profile executive
victim
of the credit crunch in the UK.
Not even Sir Fred could carry off a £15bn capital raising – from the
government, this time – and get away with it.
Sir Fred is not the only accountant at the helm of a British bank to lose
their job. Chris Rhodes has left his role as FD of Alliance & Leicester,
an
announcement revealed today.
Rhodes joins the ranks of FDs cast aside by the credit crunch, including Dave
Jones of Northern Rock, and countless US finance chiefs.
But it is not miserable for all of the UK’s finance directors.
Stephen Hester started out as an assistant to a bigwig at Credit Suisse First
Boston rather than by training to be an accountant, but he is familiar to the
profession from his time as FD of Abbey.
He
takes over from Sir Fred Goodwin at RBS today.
Another non-accountant – but well known former FD – who has further burnished
his reputation is former Barclays’ finance chief Naguib Kheraj.
A man who gave up his FD role because he found the regulatory burden too
tedious, Kheraj is a deal maker.
Who
else for the Treasury to turn to when devising its plan to recapitalize the
nation’s banking sector?
Further Reading:
Read
RBS’s announcement this morning
Read
the A&L/Abbey announcement
Resources & Whitepapers
Accounting Software The power of customisation in accounting systems
Read
The Times’ piece: whose plan is the £500bn bailout anyway?