Alison Rose spent years preparing for the top job at NatWest. Her downfall took less than a month thanks to a controversy sparked by the way her lender shut the accounts of Brexit backer Nigel Farage.
Rose stepped down on Wednesday after the UK government — which is the lender's largest shareholder — signaled her position was untenable. It was an abrupt departure for one of the City of London's most prominent executives, who was the first woman to run one of Britain's big lenders, received a damehood for services to finance earlier this year and was a figurehead for a number of government initiatives.
What she described as an "error of judgement" — speaking with a journalist in early July about Farage's accounts — rapidly spiraled into a political and cultural frenzy. Rose, 53, has also resigned from a variety of government roles.
"It is a sad moment," NatWest Chairman Howard Davies said in a statement. "She has dedicated all her working life so far to NatWest and will leave many colleagues who respect and admire her."
Rose has not commented beyond her remarks in NatWest's statement to the stock market, which said she remained "immensely proud of the progress the bank has made in supporting people, families and business across the UK, and building the foundations for sustainable growth."
Her exit became increasingly likely as NatWest struggled to disarm the growing scrutiny of Farage's treatment. He disclosed his debanking at the end of June. A BBC story on July 4 said Farage was dropped by NatWest's upmarket Coutts unit because he no longer met their financial requirements.
But the Brexiteer revealed that was inaccurate by releasing information that Coutts held about him, which indicated the bank discriminated against him on personal and political grounds.
Rose apologized to Farage on July 20, yet this did little to stem criticism from the politician-turned-pundit and, crucially, UK lawmakers. The reprovals only grew on Tuesday evening with Rose's admission that she discussed Farage's account with the BBC.
Despite her board's initial backing, she had little to choice but to resign early Wednesday morning after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt both indicated her position was untenable.
Rose had worked at NatWest — then named National Westminster Bank, and later the Royal Bank of Scotland — since joining from university in 1992. She held a variety of roles including overseeing Europe, Middle East and Africa, markets and international banking.
The Briton had also led the domestic commercial and private banking business that generated a third of the group's revenue. She also helped clean up the securities unit, once one of the world's largest, in the aftermath of the bank's record bailout, prompted by the disastrous ABN Amro takeover.
She replaced Ross McEwan atop the business in late 2019. She inherited a bank that had mostly tied up the loose ends of scandals whose legacy McEwan handled during his tenure. Those include mis-sold payment protection insurance, Libor and foreign-exchange index rigging, and the mortgage-backed securities that led to a settlement with the US Department of Justice.
Rose steered the bank through Covid-19 emergency support programs, while forgoing her bonus and a portion of her salary for the first year of the pandemic, as she continued to embark on cost-cutting and slimming down the bank. She has also taken a public stance and advised the government on a range of topics from opportunities for women and girls to discrimination and climate finance.
Under Rose's leadership "the operational and financial performance of the group had significantly improved," Shore Capital analyst Gary Greenwood said in a note, "albeit with the more recent help from a tailwind of rising interest rates."
That performance will be under the spotlight when NatWest reports second-quarter results on Friday, which are expected to show that higher interest rates have helped to boost its profit margin.
Another legacy is her immediate successor. She named Paul Thwaite, who is taking her place as interim CEO, as her replacement at the top of the commercial banking business on her first day as chief executive officer in 2019.
