RBS appoints new insurance chief executive in shake up

A further management reshuffle at Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has resulted in the bank appointing a new chief executive for its insurance division.

Paul Geddes will replace the current chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland Insurance (RBSI), Chris Sullivan, who is stepping down to take on a new role within the bank at the end of July.

Geddes, who has been UK Retail chief executive since December 2006 will join the RBS executive committee.

RBS said Geddes has “driven a successful period for the division – growing income and strengthening market share and customer satisfaction”.

Sullivan, who has led RBSI since November 2006 is set to become chief executive of its UK corporate banking division.

RBSI has undergone a major restructure in recent weeks, just months after the bank’s chief executive Stephen Hester pulled the plug on the sale of the business.

Earlier this month RBSI appointed Jon Greenwood as the new boss of its broker-only insurer NIG, replacing temporary boss Nigel Pearce. Greenwood’s new role came shortly after RBSI announced eight office closures and about 130 job losses at NIG.

The company was also hit by the departure of senior executive Charles Crawford, the managing director of partnership and international business at RBSI, to loss adjuster Davies. The restructure also resulted in Alastair Grier, who was director of customer sales and service within operations, replace Greenwood as boss of the household and life division and Steve Treloar being promoted to managing director of motor.

New RBSI boss Geddes joined RBS in 2004 as managing director, marketing & strategy, retail banking before becoming chief executive of retail banking, where he is responsible for around 30,000 people serving over 12 million customers.

Stephen Hester, RBS group chief executive said: “Chris and Paul have impressed me since we began working together in recently and are well suited for their new roles.”