RBS chairman to head embattled GlaxoSmithKline

Sir Phillip Hampton, the chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland, will leave the bailed-out bank next year to become chairman of GlaxoSmithKline.

The chairman of the 81%-taxpayer owned bank since 2009, Hampton had been linked with the role at the scandal-hit pharmaceutical company in recent months. He will join the board in January and become deputy chairman in April before succeeding Sir Christopher Gent in the chairman’s seat in September 2015.

RBS has not yet found a successor for Hampton, who became chairman at the height of the banking crisis and when all the other candidates had walked away from the role. The bank said he would leave when a suitable successor is appointed. GSK said he could become chairman earlier than 1 September if he was released from other commitments.

With the general election scheduled for May 2015 it may prove difficult to appoint his successor until the next government is formed, given the size of the stake controlled by the Treasury through UK Financial Investments.

Sir Sandy Crombie, the senior independent director at RBS and the former boss of Standard Life, is leading the search along with headhunters.

Hampton, who said it had been a privilege to serve as chairman of RBS since 2009, joins GSK at a time when it is fighting to restore its reputation in the midst of a global bribery scandal.

Sir Deryck Maughan, the GSK non-executive director who led the search for a new chairman, said: “Sir Philip’s appointment provides a clear plan of succession and we welcome him to our board.”

Gent had told GSK’s shareholders he would leave next year. Confirmation of his successor comes after the company was fined £300m for bribery in China and faces investigations by the Serious Fraud Office and the US department of justice.