Santander UK To Name Bostock As New Chief

A former finance director of Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS.L - news) is poised to be named as the new of Santander UK, Britain's fifth biggest lender.

Sky News understands that the Spanish-owned bank may announce as early as Tuesday that Nathan Bostock will be appointed as its next chief executive.

The move had been widely expected since Mr Bostock was installed as deputy chief executive late last year, quitting the state-backed RBS after just 10 weeks as its finance director.

Mr Bostock will replace Ana Botin, who was last week elevated to become group executive chairman of Banco Santander (Amsterdam: SANT.AS - news) following the death of her father , Emilio Botin.

Santander UK's board is meeting on Tuesday morning to discuss the appointment of its new boss.

It is understood to have discussed the plan to name Mr Bostock as chief executive with the Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority in recent days.

Last week, Lord Burns, Santander UK's chairman, paid tribute to Ms Botin's leadership, saying that directors would meet this week to identify the new chief executive.

"In just three-and-a-half years, Ana has transformed Santander UK, turning three former building societies [Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley] into one of Britain's most successful banks," he said.

It remains possible that Ms Botin will replace Lord Burns, who has indicated his wish to step down, as non-executive chairman of the UK bank.

A Santander UK spokesman declined to comment.