Projo Biz Blog

George Mathewson, former chairman of the Royal Bank of Scotland, owner of Providence-based Citizens Financial Group this morning rejected calls for CEO Fred Goodwin to step down after he resorted to a rights offer to shore up capital.

The bank needs Goodwin's “very high” management skills for “several more years” to see it through the $23 billion acquisition of parts of ABN Amro Holding NV, Mathewson told Bloomberg News.

Even so, Mathewson said he was “surprised” by how much risk RBS took on U.S. mortgages, leading to more than $15 billion of writedowns, and said the timing of its purchase of ABN Amro as credit markets seized up last year was “wrong.”

“He is definitely the right person to take the bank forward because what they need to do now is run the business well,” Mathewson said, adding it would be “really bad news” for RBS if Goodwin left. “There's been a lot of antagonism in the city towards Fred Goodwin over the last few years.”

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