NatWest names Rick Haythornthwaite to replace Davies as chairman

Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

NatWest Group has picked former Mastercard chairman Rick Haythornthwaite to replace its chair Howard Davies next year. 

The London-listed bank said Wednesday that Haythornthwaite will join the lender's board on January 8 and succeed Davies as chair on April 15. Sky News reported the appointment earlier.

NatWest has spent several months searching for a chairman after Davies announced in April that he would be stepping down by mid-2024. It's also on the hunt for a permanent chief executive officer, following Alison Rose's abrupt departure this summer in the wake of the debanking controversy around ex-politician Nigel Farage. Paul Thwaite is running the partly government-owned bank on an interim basis.

Haythornthwaite is currently an advisory partner at Moelis & Co. and holds several board seats including the chairmanships of retailer Ocado Group and insurer AA. His earlier career was spent in the oil industry, including nearly two decades at BP.

NatWest said he will step down as a director of Globant and from his private company directorships apart from the AA, where he will transition to become a non-executive director.

Haythornthwaite also has experience dealing with the government, having written a review of the U.K. Armed Forces for the defense secretary earlier this year.

—With assistance from Katherine Griffiths.