Stephen Hester

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|

British banker (born 1960)

Sir

Stephen Hester

Hester in 2014

Born|  (1960-12-14) 14 December 1960 (age 63)

Yorkshire, England[1]

Education| Easingwold School
Alma mater| Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Occupation| Businessman
Years active| 1982–present
Title| Chairman, Nordea Bank and easyJet
Spouses|

Barbara Abt

(m. 1991; div. 2010)​

Suzy Neubert

(m. 2012)​

Children| 2

Sir Stephen Alan Michael Hester (born 14 December 1960)[2] is a British businessman and former banker. He is chairman of Nordea Bank and easyJet, and the former chief executive of RSA Insurance Group and British Land.[3]

## Early life

[edit]

Hester is the eldest son of Ronald, a chemistry professor at the University of York, and Dr Bridget Hester, a psychotherapist.[citation needed] He was born in Ithaca, NY, US but grew up primarily in the village of Crayke in North Yorkshire.[citation needed] He was educated at Easingwold School in North Yorkshire, a rural comprehensive school, and at Oxford where he studied at Lady Margaret Hall, and after chairing the Tory Reform Group, graduated with a first class honours degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics.[3]

## Career

[edit]

Hester (right) with Vince Cable, 2013

Hester has had an extensive business career including holding the chief executive position at three FTSE 100 companies over a 17 year period.[citation needed] He began his career in 1982 with investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston, where he started in corporate finance and then served a year as the chairman's assistant.[3] He was appointed a director in 1987 and a managing director in 1988 aged 27.[citation needed] Following stints as co-head European M&A and investment banking, in 1996 he was appointed to the Executive Board. Hester held the position of Chief Financial Officer and Head of Support Division, until May 2000.[citation needed] From May 2000 to September 2001, he was Global Head of the Fixed Income Division.[citation needed]

In May 2002, he joined Abbey National as Finance Director.[citation needed] The bank had significant financial problems stemming from its wholesale and life insurance activities.[citation needed] As part of its significant restructuring , he was given additional responsibilities as Chief Operating Officer for the wholesale and insurance arms of the bank as well as its support functions.[citation needed] The restructuring was successful and in 2004 the bank was sold at a significant gain to shareholders to Santander.[citation needed]

In November 2004, Hester was appointed chief executive British Land succeeding Sir John Ritblat, the company’s founder.[citation needed]

Hester was appointed non-executive deputy chairman Northern Rock by Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling in March 2008, a role which he resigned from in September 2008 to take a non-executive position on the board of Royal Bank of Scotland.[4][5]

### Royal Bank of Scotland

[edit]

In October 2008, RBS , then the biggest bank in the world by assets, contributed to the cause of the global financial crisis and was bailed out by UK taxpayers.[citation needed] As part of that change, Hester was asked to leave British Land and replace Fred Goodwin as Chief Executive of the RBS Group.[citation needed]

The ensuing five years were ones of intense restructuring of RBS. Assets were reduced by some £720 billion and costs by c£4.2 billion.[citation needed] The task had been likened to defusing a financial bomb.[citation needed] In addition to restoring financial health the share price of RBS which had troughed at 90p equivalent, rose to 330p by the time he left the bank.[citation needed]

Hester was paid an annual salary of £1.1 million by RBS.[6] In 2012 he was offered a bonus of just under £1 million, but following some considerable pressure from politicians and the public, he declined the bonus.[7] Later in 2012, in June, he declined his bonus for the following year after RBS's computer problems.[8]

In June 2013 Royal Bank of Scotland announced that Hester would be stepping down as CEO in December 2013, after five years with the bank.[citation needed]

### RSA Insurance

[edit]

On 4 February 2014, Hester joined RSA Insurance Group, the FTSE100 insurer, as CEO.[citation needed] The company was also experiencing a financial crisis and Hester led significant restructuring efforts, streamlining and focusing the business, raising £750 million in a rights issue and changing management whilst cutting costs.[citation needed] The insurer responded well to these changes with substantial increases in earnings, dividends and share price.[citation needed] The Company accepted an all cash bid worth £7.2 bn in June 2021 from Intact of Canada and Tryg of Denmark. The 52% premium was a record for the sector.[citation needed]

### Other appointments

[edit]

In June 2016, Hester was appointed to the board of Centrica the FTSE 100 energy Group as Senior Independent Director which he stepped down from in June 2022.[citation needed]

### 2021 onwards

[edit]

Hester joined the Board of easyJet, the leading European airline, on 1 September 2021 becoming Chairman on 1 December 2021.[citation needed] He also was appointed Lead Independent Director of Kyndryl in November 2021.[citation needed] Kyndryl is a New York based and listed company spun off from IBM. It is the largest IT infrastructure provider globally.[citation needed]

In April 2022 Hester joined the Board of Nordea Bank abp as Vice Chairman, and became Chairman on 1 October 2022.[citation needed]Nordea is the largest bank in the Nordics and the 5th largest European bank by value.[citation needed]

## Personal life

[edit]

Hester married Canadian-born Barbara Abt in 1991, and they have two children together.[9][10] They met when both were working for Credit Suisse.[9][10] They separated and divorced in 2010.[9][11]

In September 2012, Hester married Suzy Neubert, a former banker and wealth manager for the fund manager J.O. Hambro. It was a second marriage for both of them.[12][13] The couple have four children.[2]

Hester bought the 400-acre (160 ha) Broughton Grange estate in Oxfordshire in 1992.[9] One of Hester's passions is said to be development of the gardens and arboretum at the property, part of which was designed by landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith and includes pleached limes, formal beds and five of the first Australian Wollemi pines to be brought into the UK.[3] For nine years Hester was a trustee of the Foundation and Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.[14][15][16]

Hester enjoys tennis, running and shooting, as well as skiing, for which he owns a chalet in Verbier, Switzerland.[17][18] Hester also used to enjoy horse riding,[18] as his first wife was a master of fox hounds in Warwickshire.[19]

Hester has in the past donated to the Conservative Party.[20] In the 2024 New Year Honours Hester was appointed Knight Bachelor for services to Business and the Economy.[21]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Business Events". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
2. ^ a b Treanor, Jill (14 April 2021). "Interview: Stephen Hester, the Square Mile survivor". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
3. ^ a b c d Davidson, Andrew (7 January 2007). "Towering task for British Land boss". London: The Sunday Times. Retrieved 13 October 2008.
4. ^ "Stephen Hester appointed to Northern Rock board". Reuters. 18 February 2008. Archived from the original on 15 October 2008. Retrieved 13 October 2008.
5. ^ Russell, Jonathan (13 October 2008). "Stephen Hester moves back to banking as new head of RBS". London: The Telegraph. Retrieved 13 October 2008.
6. ^ Treanor, Jill (11 February 2013). "RBS chairman defends Stephen Hester's 'modest' pay". The Guardian. London.
7. ^ Peston, Robert (30 January 2012). "RBS boss Stephen Hester rejects £4m bonus". London: bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2012.
8. ^ Treanor, Jill (29 June 2012). "RBS chief Stephen Hester gives up bonus over computer meltdown". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
9. ^ a b c d "Stephen Hester: the first name on every headhunter's hitlist". independent.co.uk. 29 August 2015. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
10. ^ a b "Profile: RBS boss Stephen Hester". BBC News. 6 April 2018. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
11. ^ Dailyrecord.co.uk (4 June 2010). "RBS boss splits with wife of 20 years as pressure of saving bank takes toll". dailyrecord.co.uk. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
12. ^ Walsh, Kate (4 March 2012). "Prufrock: For Hester, this is Cupid's bonus". Retrieved 6 April 2018 - via www.thetimes.co.uk.
13. ^ Fournier, Elizabeth (13 June 2013). "Impossible job was too hard for Hester to finish". cityam.com. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
14. ^ "Profile: Stephen Hester". efinancialnews.com. 13 October 2008. Retrieved 13 October 2008.
15. ^ "Support Kew – Kew Foundation Board of Trustees". Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Archived from the original on 6 January 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
16. ^ Jenkins, Patrick (7 June 2013). "Lunch with the FT: Stephen Hester". Financial Times. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
17. ^ Jenkins, Patrick (5 February 2014). "Stephen Hester: the Mr Fixit of financial services". Financial Times. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
18. ^ a b "Profile: Stephen Hester". The Scotsman. 16 January 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
19. ^ Eden, Richard (14 November 2009). "Hunting ban comes into force for Labour's banker Stephen Hester". ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
20. ^ "Profile: Stephen Hester". scotsman.com. 6 January 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
21. ^ "No. 64269". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2023. p. N2.

## External links

[edit]

* Broughton Grange website

Business positions

Preceded by

Fred Goodwin

|  CEO of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group
2008–13  | Succeeded by

Ross McEwan
*[m.]: married
*[div.]: divorced