Royal Bank of Scotland Group said Thursday that its 44-year-old finance director will leave this year.
In five years on the job Fred Watt helped Royal Bank make more than $61 billion of acquisitions, including several in the United States. The latest was that of Charter One Financial Inc. of Cleveland last August, for $10.5 billion.
Mr. Watt said in a press statement that he wants to spend more time with his family. "I have a very young family and consider myself very fortunate to be able to make a choice to spend more time with them," he said.
The company did not say when he would leave. A Royal Bank spokesman said that he had "no idea" when that would be, but that Mr. Watt will present first-half earnings on Aug. 4.
"What he's done is intimate in a good orderly fashion that he wants to leave," said the spokesman, Howard Moody. "We will be filling the position." Internal and external candidates will be considered, he said.
Analysts said the company should still be in good hands with Sir Fred Goodwin, 46, at the helm as chief executive.
Though Mr. Watt's will be "a high-profile departure, the other key figures remain in place," said James Hutson, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. in London, in a note to clients. "The bank can clearly take its time to appoint a suitable successor." Mr. Hutson has an "outperform" rating on the stock.
Sir Fred said in a press statement that Mr. Watt "has made an outstanding contribution" as group finance director. "I'll be sad to see him go."
In the United States, Sir Fred has recently indicated that he plans to step back from big-ticket deals and focus instead on organic expansion.
Mr. Watt, a chartered accountant and former finance director of Wassall PLC, joined the Edinburgh banking company in September 2000, five months after it completed its biggest purchase ever - the $38 billion takeover of National Westminster Bank PLC.
Royal Bank has passed Barclays PLC to become the United Kingdom's second-largest bank by market value, after HSBC Holdings PLC.
