This article is from the source 'independent' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/rbs-chairman-sir-philip-hampton-leaves-for-gsk-9754502.html

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton leaves for GSK RBS chairman Sir Philip Hampton leaves for GSK
(about 3 hours later)
Sir Philip Hampton, who has been chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland since 2009, is to leave the bank next year for the same role at GlaxoSmithKline.Sir Philip Hampton, who has been chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland since 2009, is to leave the bank next year for the same role at GlaxoSmithKline.
He will take over from former Vodafone boss Sir Christopher Gent, who has been at the helm of the pharmaceuticals giant since the start of 2005. RBS has already appointed headhunters Egon Zehnder to draw up a shortlist of candidates for the £750,000-a-year post, with former Standard Life boss Sir Sandy Crombie leading the hunt as head of the bank’s nominations committee. He is also considered a potential candidate for the job.
RBS, which is 80 per cent taxpayer owned, said Sir Philip will leave the company during 2015 after a suitable successor has been appointed to replace him. Chancellor George Osborne is likely to have strong say in the choice of new chairman given the taxpayers’ 80 per cent stake in the bank and his keenness to start selling some of that shareholding.
Glaxo said Sir Philip, who is a former chairman of Sainsbury's, will join its board at the start of January and will become its chairman from September. Crucially, Hampton will join the board of GSK in January but not become its chairman until September 2015.
He joined RBS at the height of its crisis after taking the role of chairman in February 2009 to work alongside chief executive Stephen Hester. That would enable him to continue to chair RBS until after the general election, ensuring a degree of continuity with a new government. Hampton replaces Sir Chris Gent, chairman of GSK for a decade.
However, his planned departure from the RBS board comes with the Government still a long way from returning the bank to private hands. His appointment comes two months after Britain’s biggest drugmaker issued a profits warning, and days after it was fined almost £300 million by China for bribery.
Sir Philip said today: "It has been a privilege to serve as chairman of RBS since 2009. I am looking forward to working with my colleagues in the months ahead as we work to implement the bank's strategy and continue to improve the support we provide to our customers."
Sir Philip has been finance director at Lloyds TSB, BT, British Gas and British Steel and is a former chairman of UK Financial Investments, which manages the UK Government's shareholdings in banks.
Drugs company Glaxo has been in the spotlight recently after it was fined £297 million and its former country manager handed a suspended prison sentence in China for bribery.