Shock resignation of ABN Amro's CFO
Hugh Scott-Barrett resigns amidst takeover battle for Dutch lender
Hugh Scott-Barrett resigns amidst takeover battle for Dutch lender
ABN Amro’s CFO,
Hugh Scott-Barrett has just resigned amidst a takeover
battle for the Dutch lender.
Scott-Barrett’s is set to leave on August 1, a decision taken even though
there is still no certainty about the fate of ABN, which agreed a merger with
the UK’s Barclays but is being pursued by a rival group of European banks led by
the Royal Bank of Scotland, ft.com reported.
UK-born Scott-Barrett described his move as a ‘logical step’ given he had
declined the offer of a job with the bank that would be created as a result of
an ABN/Barclays combination.
His appointment as CFO in January last year followed a consistent rise
through management ranks of the Dutch banking group after joining the group in
1996 as head of its European corporate finance business.
He previously worked for Kleinwort Benson and Swiss Bank Corporation, but
left shortly after SBC bought SG Warburg, the London-based investment bank.
His time at ABN was noted for vast cost-cutting exercises in an effort to
improve efficiency which saw the bank shed 4000 jobs.
Scott-Barrett will be succeeded by by Huibert Boumeester, who joined ABN’s
management board last year and formerly headed its asset management business.
Rijkman Groenink, ABN chief executive, said the bank ‘regretfully accepted’
Scott-Barrett’s decision. Groenink said the bank was losing ‘one of the best
financial minds in the industry’.
Further reading:
Q&A: John Varley on Barclay’s proposed merger with ABN
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Amro CFO resigns amid takeover quagmire