Things were almost very different for Aviva, and for Alison Rose. I have it on good authority that the FTSE 100 insurer came close to poaching Royal Bank of Scotland’s head of commercial and private banking as its new chief executive earlier this year. Chairman Sir Adrian Montague and headhunters at Spencer Stuart wanted an outsider to refresh its culture after the abrupt parting with former boss Mark Wilson. They approached Rose and were pleasantly surprised to find that she was interested. Rose, an RBS “lifer” who joined the NatWest graduate scheme in 1992, might have realised this was a golden chance to leave for something different; her family might have urged her to take a less politically sensitive job than running taxpayer-backed RBS.

Source: The Times October 12, 2019 23:14 UTC