FINANCE: Royal Bank of Scotland restructuring chiefs Derek Sach and Aubrey Adams are set to leave the bank following the wind-down of the division.
Sach, who heads the global restructuring group, and Adams, the unit’s head of property, have both agreed to leave the bank at the end of March 2015.
GRG will be replaced by a new restructuring team that will work alongside the rest of the bank to help distressed clients rather than operating as a separate unit.
Laura Barlow, former head of GRG’s UK team, will lead the new restructuring division.
Many of the biggest companies in GRG have been shifted into RBS Capital Resolution, the £38bn bad bank set up last year to wind down its most toxic assets.
GRG is currently being investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority over allegations that it profited from the financial distress of companies it was meant to help.
The independent investigation was prompted by allegations made by Lawrence Tomlinson, adviser to business secretary Vince Cable, in his report on the bank.
Tomlinson alleged that the division compelled firms to sell property to the bank’s own internal property company – West Register – at knock-down prices.
In April, an RBS-commissioned review of GRG by law firm Clifford Chance found no evidence that the bank had systematically set out to defraud its business customers.
At that time RBS made a number of changes to GRG including confirming the winding down of West Register.
bridget.o’connell@estatesgazette.com
