Fred Goodwin

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Sir Frederick Anderson Goodwin (born 17 August 1958) was chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland group to Jan 2009.

Biography

Born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, Goodwin attended Paisley Grammar School, before studying law at Glasgow University. He joined accountants Touche Ross, and qualified as a chartered accountant in 1983. He became a partner in 1988 and won his spurs as chief operating officer of the worldwide liquidation of Bank of Credit and Commerce International in 1990. At 32, Goodwin was in charge of 1,000 people with teams from London to Abu Dhabi and the Cayman Islands that eventually got back half the money from one of the most complicated, high-profile financial frauds ever.

Goodwin was then headhunted for the job of deputy chief executive of Clydesdale Bank in 1995, then as CEO at Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank from 1996.

He joined RBS in 1998 as deputy CEO to now retired Chairman Sir George Mathewson. He rose to CEO in 2001. At the height of the NatWest takeover battle, there were murmurs from both the target and rival Bank of Scotland that Mr Goodwin was too young to run a major public company. He obtained his moniker Fred the Shred from City financiers, having gained a reputation for generating cost savings and effiencies whilst at Clydesdale, and continued following the acquisition of NatWest by RBS.

Expansion of RBS

Following the NatWest takeover, RBS made a string of further acquisitions around the world, including the purchase of Irish mortgage provider First Active and UK car insurer Churchill. It also bulked up its US Citizens Financial, Inc arm with a string of further deals. Then in May 2004, RBS said it would purchase Charter One Financial Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio for $10.5 billion. The deal spread the RBS's banking web across the Midwest for the first time, and made its U.S. banking operations No. 7 in the United States.

Since Goodwin took over as chief executive, RBS's assets have quadrupled, its cost-to-income ratio has improved markedly, and profits have soared. In 2005 pre-tax profits climbed 16%, to a record £8.3 billion. RBS now numbers among the top ten banks in the world.

Banking experts have claimed that Goodwin's success in acquisitions, notably that of NatWest, lies in his disciplined approach. Before deciding to do a deal, he does an unusual amount of due diligence. In the Charter One deal, RBS claims to have spent 500 man-days (the equivalent of 100 people working for five days) examining the bank's books. Charter boosted the amount of pre-tax profit RBS gets from the U.S. and put RBS in a position to expand further.

However, following investor unrest in the build-up to RBS's acquisition of a minority stake in Bank of China in 2005 Goodwin was criticised by some RBS shareholders for putting global expansion ahead of short-term financial returns. This caused its share price to plateau at around £18 per share. Goodwin was famously accused of megalomania by some shareholders, as reported by Dresdner Kleinwort analyst James Eden (who said he thought the label was 'unwarranted'). After the Bank of China deal, he was forced to promise RBS shareholders he would not indulge in any further big acquisitions and focus instead on growing the group organically.

In June 2004, RBS admitted that it owned a Dassault Falcon 900 jet worth £17.5m for the use of Goodwin and the board, a fact not disclosed in the annual report. Based in Paris for maintenance purposes, the jet is also leased to the banks clients via Lombard. Goodwin's salary, nominally around £3.5million on target including bonuses, for 2006 could top £8million in cash and shares [1]

Outside Banking

Goodwin has chaired various government task forces including examining the work of credit unions and the New Deal programme. He is chairman of The Prince's Trust and a former president of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Scotland.

Awards

  • December 2002 - Forbes "Businessman of the Year"" by the global edition, which described him as an original thinker with a fast-forward frame of mind who had transformed RBS from a nonentity into a global name by making almost inhuman demands on his staff.
  • April 2003 - No.1 in Scotland on Sunday’s Power 100
  • December 2003 - "European Banker of the Year" in 2003
  • June 2004 - Knighted in the Queen's 2004 Birthday Honours list

Quotes

  • "He’s not desperately patient" a Royal Bank executive
  • "There may be some possible mercy killings" Goodwin on the possibility of RBoS being allowed to pick up one or two of the UK’s smaller financial services groups
  • "It's large, it's well-ordered, there's prosperity. And we speak the same language - or almost." Goodwin on RBS's expansion in the United States. Since acquiring NatWest, Goodwin has focused most of his energy on the U.S. market. He has impressed investors with his choice of U.S. banks to buy, tending to buy small banks that have little risk
  • "Anyone who thinks nothing has changed in banking for the past five years is a bit detached" Goodwin on former telecoms regulator Don Cruickshank’s claim that banks were still ripping off customers five years after his report to the Treasury

Personal life

In 1990 Goodwin married Joyce Elizabeth McLean and they have two children. He apparently loves fish and chips and says one of his hobbies is doing up classic cars - the first, a Hillman Imp from the proceeds of a summer job at a Scottish power station. He presently owns a Triumph Stag. Other pastimes are shooting and golf.

References

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