RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton mulls move to head GlaxoSmithKline
Sir Philip Hampton could jump ship to leading pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline after six years chairing RBS, it was reported yesterday.
Neither is in any rush to replace its chairman – Glaxo’s chair Sir Christopher Gent expects to serve at the firm until the end of next year.
He has served at the company for a decade. And Hampton has not set out any specific plans to leave RBS.
Hampton is a former corporate financier and he has held a number of roles in the boardrooms of major companies. He joined RBS in 2009 and has previously said that five to seven years represents a healthy period of time for a chairman to stay in the job.
However, he is also known to be keen to stay on while chief executive Ross McEwan implements his plans at the bailed out bank – McEwan started in the role last Autumn and has begun an ambitious plan to reorganise RBS and slash costs.
Hampton could be appointed as a non-executive director in the coming weeks, according to Sky News, before taking the chairmanship at a later point in 2015.
Both roles are fraught with challenges.
Glaxo is facing claims its staff have bribed doctors and other across China, leading to a prolonged regulatory investigation.
And RBS is still far from privatisation – making for an uncomfortable contrast with bailed-out Lloyds, where the government has successfully started selling down its shareholding at a profit.
The bank made its biggest loss since the financial crisis last year, losing £8.2bn as it wrote off more bad loans. And it has continued to set aside more funds to fight legacy scandals including the payment protection insurance mis-selling crisis – it has so far set aside £3.1bn to cover compensation payouts.
Both GSK and RBS declined to comment. Glaxo’s shares dipped 2.75 per cent, while RBS’ slid 2.51 per cent.