NatWest appoints ex-Deutsche Bank exec as a chief information officer

Former Deutsche Bank exec Scott Marcar is set to take up the post of NatWest’s newest chief information offer. 

Marcar will step into the new role on 5 September 2022, subject to regulatory approval, and will report directly to CEO Alison Rose.

At Deutsche Bank, the exec was chief information officer of its investment and corporate banking divisions.

Marcar started his banking career of almost 30 years at JP Morgan, where he eventually rose to the position of vice president, before then transitioning to the role of global head of exotics technology and chief business technologist, emerging markets.

The exec then moved on to his previous stint at NatWest between 2007 and 2014, where he worked in a number of senior technology roles before rising to the role of chief information officer of markets in 2014.

The news comes as NatWest is looking to revamp its IT infrastructures, following the historic criminal money laundering charges brought against them by the FCA, which resulted in a £264.8m fine.

NatWest initially agreed it would not handle cash from Bradford-based jewelry Fowler Oldfield, however, over the course of the customer relationship, approximately £365m was deposited with the bank, of which around £264m was in cash.

At a recent virtual event held ahead of its Annual General Meeting (“AGM”), NatWest said it has “invested almost £700 million in the last five years” in preventing financial crime and it is “planning to spend over £1 billion in the next five on investing in the detection and prevention of fraud and financial crime”.

NatWest was also able to announce another addition to its executive leadership.

Simon McNamara, after almost 10 years as group chief administrative officer, in which he would have taken on many CIO like responsibilities, will now take on the role of senior advisor, managing and growing a number of key investments for the bank.