George Mathewson

Sir George Mathewson was Chairman at the Royal Bank of Scotland until April 2006 and a patron of the Scottish North American Business Council. The Times named him as 55th in the 'Power 100' list in 2005.[1]

In May 2006 it was reported that he was 'to become chairman of London-based global hedge fund management group, Toscafund Holdings Ltd.'

He studied mathematics and applied physics at St Andrews University and gained a PhD in electrical engineering before going to the US to manage research and development programmes in avionics for Bell Aerospace Corporation. From 1972 until 1981 he worked for the Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation (now known as 3i) and then served as chief executive of the Scottish Development Agency. In 1987 he joined the board of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group and became group chief executive in 1992. He played a leading role in the acquisition of National Westminster Bank and was appointed executive deputy chairman in 2000, becoming chairman of the Group a year later. He was awarded a knighthood in 1999 for services to economic development in Scotland and to Scottish banking.[2]

He is a past president of the British Bankers’ Association and a director of Banco Santander, the Spanish banking group.

Sir Angus Grossart served on the RBS board with Mathewson from 1987 to 2005. Grossart was an RBS non-executive director from 1985 to 1995 and joint vice-chairman from 1996 to 2005. Mathewson joined Grossart on the board of Scottish Investment Trust (SIT) in 1981. Grossart was non-executive chairman of SIT from 1974 to 2003.

Affiliations

• Financial Reporting Council, Council member
• board of directors of the Institute of International Finance
• appointed Vice President of the International Monetary Conference, June 2004.
• Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
• chairman of Tosca hedge fund,
• chairman of a private client investment firm, Cheviot Asset Management

Resources

Biographical presentation on Sir George Mathewson Factsheet prepared by the Royal Bank of Scotland 28 April 2006.

Notes

• Transcript: Interview with Sir George Mathewson, former chairman, Royal Bank of Scotland on 4 October 2006 CEO Interviews and Transcripts, Published October 11, 2006, Interviewed by Emmanuel Daniel