Financiers Make Debrett’s Most Influential List

Two New Zealanders have made the 2016 Debrett’s 500 list of most influential people in Britain. CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Ross McEwan (pictured), 59, and Mark Wilson, 50, chief executive of Aviva, were included in the finance section of the list.

“McEwan has overseen a challenging year at RBS amid the ongoing fallout of payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling, accusations of profiteering from small businesses, and a drop in share price following the Brexit vote,” the Telegraph reports. “The bank remains 73 per cent owned by the taxpayer but McEwan has vowed to be making a profit by 2020.

“Despite failing one of his university accounting modules twice, he graduated with a degree in Business and Human Resources from Massey University, and worked for some time in life insurance and at New Zealand stockbrokers First NZ Capital Securities.”

“Since taking over as Aviva’s group chief executive in 2013, Wilson has returned the insurance multinational to profit and overseen the integration of Friends Life, which it acquired in 2015 for £5.6 billion.

“Wilson studied at the University of Waikato before going on to work in insurance, beginning his career at National Mutual in New Zealand and Australia where he progressed through a number of senior management positions. He was then CEO of several AXA divisions in Asia and ran AIA, the Asian arm of US insurer AIG, for four years.”

Original article by The Telegraph, January 20, 2017.