RBS Insurance overhauls management

Two senior managers have left RBS Insurance on the back of a major restructuring designed, in part, to bring together the company’s various brands.

Chris Moat, managing director of motor and Robin Webster, chief risk officer, resigned from their positions last week.

Chief executive Chris Sullivan informined senior staff of Moat and Webster’s departures on Thursday.

Mark Hesketh has been put in charge of risk, as well as finance, while Moat has not yet been replaced.

An RBS spokesperson said: “We wish them every success as they pursue other career opportunities.”

The departures came as RBS entered its second phase of restructuring, which also sees commercial and brokers combined under one managing director – Andy Cornish.

The spokesperson said: “We believe that bringing together all of our commercial expertise in one place, irrespective of distribution channel will allow us to better focus our energy on a key growth area.”

Several months ago Sullivan, who took over from former chief executive Annette Court, announced plans to create greater cohesion between RBS’ various insurance brands including, Direct Line, NIG and Churchill.

Sullivan has been outspoken about the need for the various, sometimes competitive, brands to work more closely together. One of his first moves as chief executive was to strip the brands of their aligned bosses and create product line/distribution managers in their place.

Moat, who was managing director of Direct Line, became the head of RBS motor.

The changes were said to be necessary to maximize market share and to an extent, stop the individual brands from undercutting one another.

One source with close ties to RBS said he was extremely surprised to see Moat leave the company.

He said: “Chris Moat has been there an awful long time and it must be a loss to the company. He was very good with organisation and people management.”

See Insurance Times this week for a full analysis.