Dame Alison Rose, the former chief executive of NatWest Group PLC (LSE:NWG), has been found guilty by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) of breaching data protection laws when she disclosed details about the planned closure of former UKIP leader Nigel Farage's bank accounts to a BBC journalist.
With the update causing a stir for the bank all this week, management that remains at the group will likely be glad to just focus on its core business when it reports third-quarter results on Friday.
Its half-year results in July came in the same week that chief executive Alison Rose resigned after admitting to a “serious error of judgment” in the Nigel Farage row, with the kerfuffle also seeing the boss of Coutts and the group chairman’s heads also roll.
Rick Haythornthwaite, the former MasterCard boss, has been appointed as the new chair and Paul Thwaite, boss of the lender’s franchise and payments business, has been promoted to interim CEO on a 12-month contract, with chief financial officer Katie Murray the only one to keep her role, providing some continuity among the C-suite.
At a recent conference, Murray indicated that new chairman Haythornthwaite would look into the CEO appointment, meaning it should not be expected too soon, while Thwaite, would continue to focus on delivering on existing targets.
The interim results saw NatWest report a £500 million share buyback and solid dividend although it cautioned that UK net interest margins would be lower than previously forecast.
For the full year, the NIM forecast was trimmed to around 3.15% from 3.20% before, although all other guidance was retained.
Similar to rivals Lloyds and Barclays, NatWest reported a jump in loan impairment charges to £223 million.
UBS analysts noted that "management indicated recently that while we may be at peak NIM, that doesn’t necessarily mean peak revenue".
- Edited to add line about ICO ruling -