NatWest names Rick Haythornthwaite as new chair to succeed Sir Howard Davies
British business executive Richard ‘Rick’ Haythornthwaite has been named as the new chair of the board for NatWest Group.
NatWest appoints Richard Haythornthwaite as new chair
Haythornthwaite will initially join the bank’s board as an independent non-executive director on 8 January 2024 before officially succeeding Sir Howard Davies, who has served as the board’s chair since September 2015, from 15 April 2024, when Davies will stand down from the role.
The board’s pursuit of a new chair began earlier this year following its annual general meeting in April 2023.
The bank says it considered “a number of high-quality candidates”, with Haythornthwaite ultimately receiving the unanimous approval of the NatWest board.
He brings a wealth of knowledge and professional experience to the role, most notably through his tenure as global chair of Mastercard from 2006 to 2020, and as chair of Centrica from 2014 to 2019.
Haythornthwaite currently serves as chair of Ocado Group and the AA and as a non-executive director of NYSE-listed Globant.
Before assuming his new position with NatWest, it is expected that Haythornthwaite will dissolve his role at Globant and within all of his directorships apart from the AA, where he is set to transition into a non-executive director position.
Speaking on his latest appointment, Haythornthwaite says he is inheriting “a very different NatWest compared to my predecessor”, making particular emphasis on its newfound customer focus and its increased financial resilience.
Adding to this, Mark Seligman, a senior independent director for the bank, describes Haythornthwaite as “a highly experienced chair who combines a successful commercial career with a deep knowledge of financial services markets and technology, as well as a strong track record of delivery at significant customer-facing organisations”.
Haythornthwaite’s appointment comes just months after the highly publicised row between NatWest Group and Nigel Farage in July, which resulted in NatWest chief exec Alison Rose stepping down.
