RBS hiring drive to aid challenger bank Williams & Glyn disposal
One-fifth of the hires RBS is looking to make fall within the Williams & Glyn challenger bank being carved out of the state-backed lender, illustrating the scale of the task at hand as RBS readies itself to launch the revived brand as its deadline draws nearer.
Of the 1,235 open positions being advertised on the RBS jobs website, 240 relate to Williams & Glyn, which consists of 307 bank branches across the UK.
City PM understands that RBS has more than 4,500 full-time staff working on carving out the challenger bank, on top of additional third party resources.
“Williams & Glyn will play an important role in the UK banking landscape and will be an excellent addition to the market. We are moving forward towards an IPO in the second half of 2016,” an RBS spokesperson said.
RBS must fully divest the Williams & Glyn challenger by the end of 2017 under European requirements as a condition of the £45.5bn bailout which gave the UK taxpayer an 80 per cent stake in the midst of the financial crisis of 2007-09.
According to the RBS jobs website, the bulk of the Williams & Glyn hires will be made in Manchester, Edinburgh and London.
The importance of risk and technology roles is also highlighted, with 148 of the roles advertised relating to the two areas.
Interest in Williams & Glyn has been picking up in recent months, with the Competition and Markets Authority set to report its findings on the likely impact of the proposed divestment on competition in the banking sector in July.
The assessment is likely to help both the government and RBS to decide if more could be done to improve competition in the sector.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority is tasked with assessing whether Williams & Glyn has a sustainable business model.