Royal Bank of Scotland Head Gets Back to Basics

Asked about possible job cuts for the 125,000 staff of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), New Zealander Ross McEwan turns the question to what jobs are needed for the bank to better serve its customers. “I don’t think it’s a matter of ‘what’s the number’,” says the newly-appointed RBS CEO, who is steering the nationalised British giant through a business review and trying to restore its damaged standing with customers.

“We need to think about what’s important for customers, what are their needs, what would they pay for, and have an organisation that’s flexible enough to provide those services at a price they’ll pay. That’s going to be the next five years for us,” McEwan tells Business Times in a recent interview.

“These are the things we are now able to concentrate on given that we’re a good, sound organisation again. For five years we’ve been trying to save the organisation, we’re now past that.”

McEwan, 56, started his managerial career in human resources, went on to insurance and retail banking, and became RBS’s chief executive in October 2013.