ABN Amro finance chief resigns
ABN Amro's chief financial officer Hugh Scott-Barrett announced his resignation on Thursday in the midst of the titanic takeover battle for the Dutch lender.
Mr Scott-Barrett's decision to leave the bank on August 1 was taken despite there being no certainty as to the fate of ABN. It has agreed a merger with Barclays, of the UK, but is being pursued by a rival trio of European banks led by Royal Bank of Scotland.
The UK-born banker, the most senior non-Dutchman at ABN, said the move was "a logical step" given that he had declined the offer of a job with the bank that would be created by the combination of ABN and Barclays. The board of the new entity would be dominated by Barclays nominees.
However, his decision may prove premature, given that it is unclear whether the Barclays deal will go through. Much depends on the outcome of an ABN shareholder vote, expected next month, on the proposed $21bn sale by the Dutch lender of its US subsidiary LaSalle to Bank of America.
If shareholders reject that deal, the Barclays merger would be in danger. The RBS-led consortium's plans are also unclear. It is likely to try to present shareholders with its €71bn ($96bn) offer in order to trump the Barclays proposal, which is worth as much as €7bn less.
Mr Scott-Barrett will be succeeded 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" Mr Scott-Barrett's decision. Mr Groenink said the bank was losing "one of the best financial minds in the industry".
Mr Scott-Barrett's appointment in January 2006 as chief financial officer was the latest step in his stellar rise through the management ranks of the Dutch banking group.
An investment banker by training, he joined ABN Amro in 1996 as head of its European corporate finance business. He had previously worked for Kleinwort Benson and Swiss Bank Corporation, but left shortly after SBC bought SG Warburg, the London-based investment bank.
Mr Scott-Barrett's ABN Amro career was characterised by bold moves designed to cut costs and improve efficiency. After overseeing a cost-cutting drive at ABN's wholesale bank that shed 4,000 jobs, he was promoted to chief operating officer with responsibility for a newly-created Group Shared Services division.
The unit was set up to centralise functions such as information technology, human resources and procurement, and oversaw widespread cost-cutting, especially in ABN Amro's core Dutch banking business.
Source: The Financial Times
Date: 10.05.2007 [ID: 25]