Nathan Bostock is to resign as group finance director of the Royal Bank of Scotland after just 10 weeks in the job.
Mr Bostock, who assumed the role on October 1, is set to leave to join Santander, the Spanish bank which has major operations in the UK, reports The Telegraph.
Mr Bostock is to become deputy chief executive of Santander UK, the bank run by Ana Botin. It is believed that he has been promised the chance of replacing Ms Botin once the bank has been floated on the London Stock Exchange – slated as early as 2014 – and Ms Botin has returned to Spain.
However, Mr Bostock’s contract with RBS includes a 12-month notice period, meaning he will remain with the Scottish bank for some time unless a successor can be found relatively quickly.
It was not clear on Tuesday night whether the Treasury, which owns a 79pc stake in RBS through UK Financial Investments, or the Prudential Regulation Authority had been informed of his pending exit.
It is the second senior departure the bank will have faced this year, given chief executive Stephen Hester was forced to resign in the summer.
Mr Hester was replaced by Ross McEwan, head of RBS’s retail bank, who took up his position on the same day as Mr Bostock.
Mr Bostock replaced Bruce van Saun, who has moved to his native US to prepare the bank’s Citizens subsidiary for a sale process.
The news will create a further headache for Mr McEwan, so soon after the bank’s technology problems a week ago that meant customers could not make electronic payments on “Cyber Monday”, one of the busiest online shopping days of the year.
On Tuesday night RBS confirmed Mr Bostock had informed the group board of “his intention to resign” from the role.
“His formal resignation is expected soon, but he will remain in his position to oversee an orderly handover of his responsibilities,” the statement continued.
It came after Sky News reported that Mr Bostock was considering departing.
It is not the first time Mr Bostock has hit the headlines for making a surprise decision on his employment.
In 2011, he was due to jump ship to Lloyds Banking Group to run its wholesale banking arm, but he pulled out at the 11th hour as a result of chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio’s two month leave due to “exhaustion”.
As a result of agreeing to stay at RBS – where he was then head of risk and restructuring – he was promised future promotion. In April this year when he was named as Mr van Saun’s replacement.
Chairman Sir Philip Hampton is expected to lead the search for a new RBS finance director, with the help of external head hunters.
A bank spokesman added: “Details on arrangements for his successor will be announced in due course.”
Mr Hampton said in statement on Wednesday: “Nathan did a remarkable job as chief risk officer and was integral to the plan which restored safety and soundness to the bank following the 2008 banking crisis.”