Alison Rose (banker)

Dame Alison Marie Rose-Slade (' Rose'''; born November 1969 ) is a British banker, who was chief executive (CEO) of NatWest Group from November 2019 to July 2023. She became the first woman to lead a major UK lender after leading government investigations into the poor representation of women in business. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2023 Birthday Honours. Later that year, she resigned from her position at NatWest for what she admitted was a "serious error of judgement", after she broke client confidentiality in relation to the closure of Nigel Farage's account.

Early life
Rose was born in 1969. She grew up overseas in a military family, settling back in the UK when she was 15. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in history from Durham University in 1991.

Career
Rose started her career as a graduate trainee with NatWest in 1992.

She was appointed a member of RBS's executive committee on 27 February 2014. In October 2014, as head of commercial and private banking at RBS, she announced a new plan for the bank to bring more women into decision-level and board-level positions. In August 2015, she encouraged her managers to reconnect with the SMBs part of their clientele.

In September 2018, she was nominated to lead the Treasury's review focusing on barriers for women in business. In November 2018, she became deputy chief executive of NatWest Holdings.

In March 2019, the UK Government published a policy paper, the Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship, which found that only one in three UK entrepreneurs is female, and less than one per cent of UK venture funding goes to all-female teams.

In April 2019, Rose was "widely-tipped" to succeed Ross McEwan as CEO.

Rose was the chief executive of commercial and private banking at Royal Bank of Scotland Group and deputy chief executive of NatWest Holdings. In September 2019, it was announced that she would succeed Ross McEwan as CEO of RBS Group on 1 November 2019, making her the "first woman to lead major UK lender". RBS Group was re-named NatWest Group in 2020.

Rose was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to the financial sector and later that month she was given an honorary degree by the new Chancellor of York University Dr Heather Melville.

Farage accounts and resignation
In July 2023, Rose was accused of holding ultimate responsibility for a controversial decision to close Nigel Farage's bank accounts at Coutts. Documents disclosed by the bank to Farage following his submission of a subject access request showed that the decision by the bank's Wealth Reputational Risk Committee to close his accounts, according to the 40-page dossier, was partly because his views were not compatible with the bank's "values or purpose". The dossier revealed that Farage had his politically exposed person (PEP) status downgraded in 2022, but his status was upgraded again in 2023. The dossier also revealed that Farage's account met the bank's viability conditions in 2022, but no longer did so in 2023 after he paid off a loan and had his PEP status upgraded again.

In a front-page story on 20 July The Daily Telegraph reported that Rose had dined with Simon Jack, the Business Editor for BBC News, on the evening before he published an article saying that the decision had been "for commercial reasons". Peter Bone MP and David Jones MP were reported as calling for Rose to resign. On 25 July, Rose admitted to a "serious error of judgement" in discussing Farage's Coutts accounts with Jack, though later the NatWest board said it retained full confidence in her. On 25 July, by mutual agreement, Rose resigned as CEO of NatWest Group with immediate effect. In October 2023, it was reported that the ICO had ruled that Rose violated the law, as it upheld two parts of Farage’s complaint concerning the treatment of his personal data, but the ICO later withdrew the comment about Rose, and apologised to her, saying that their ruling related only to NatWest. Rose will not receive share awards and bonuses she would otherwise have been entitled to, and as a result will lose £7.6m. She will receive £2.4m as a fixed pay package.

External appointments
She is a non-executive director of Great Portland Estates plc and chair of the McLaren/Deloitte advisory council.

Personal life
Rose is married to UBS banker David Slade, and they have two children, a daughter and a son. They live in Highgate, London.