RBS 2004 Annual Report Download - page 119

section
02
117
Annual Report and Accounts 2004
Report of the directors
Governance
Directors
The names and brief biographical details of the directors are
shown on page 115. All directors, except:
• Archie Hunter and Joe MacHale, who were appointed to the
Board on 1 September 2004,
• Bud Koch, who was appointed to the Board on 29 September
2004,
• Norman McLuskie, who retired from the Board on 23 August
2004, and
• Emilio Botin and Juan Inciarte, who resigned from the Board
on 12 November 2004,
served throughout the year and to the date of signing of the
financial statements.
Sir Angus Grossart, Lord Vallance and Iain Robertson will retire
at the forthcoming annual general meeting. Jim Currie, Sir Fred
Goodwin, Archie Hunter, Bud Koch, Joe MacHale and Sir Steve
Robson will retire and offer themselves for election or re-election.
Details of the service agreement for Sir Fred Goodwin are
set out on page 128. No other director seeking election or
re-election has a service agreement.
Directors’ interests
The interests of the directors in the shares of the company at
31 December 2004 are shown on page 134. None of the
directors held an interest in the loan capital of the company or
in the shares and loan capital of any of the subsidiary
undertakings of the company, during the period from 1 January
2004 to 23 February 2005.
Employee proposition
The Group recognises that the performance of its people is
central to the successful delivery of its overall business
strategy. Accordingly, the Group focuses on maintaining a
compelling employee proposition that attracts, engages and
then retains the best available talent. It is the breadth and
depth of that employee talent which has cemented the Group’s
standing as one of the world's leading financial institutions.
Employee recruitment
To assist those within the Group responsible for recruitment,
online toolkits have been developed in conjunction with interview
skills training, which equip them effectively to recruit the best
people for specific roles. In addition, the Group encourages
movement within the organisation through the provision of an
online appointments section which enables employees to apply
for new or different roles throughout the Group.
The profile of the Group led to over 10,000 applications being
received during its 2003/4 graduate campaign for some 200
places. The 2004 UK-based CBFM graduate intake, included
37 per cent Continental European entrants with an additional
21 Continental European graduates and interns placed within
CBFM businesses in Frankfurt, Milan, Madrid and Paris. All
applications were received online through the graduate website.
To complement this work a Group wide employee induction
event was conducted, which provided opportunities to network
with other new joiners and facilitated the exchange of ideas
and information. Within the last year the Group rose 23 places
to rank 15th in the Times Top 100 Graduate employers table.
Shareholdings
As at 23 February 2005, the company had been notified of the following interests in its shares, in accordance with section 198 of the
Companies Act 1985:
Number of shares % held Number of shares % held
Ordinary shares: 51⁄2% cumulative preference shares:
Cater Allen International 107,628,711 3.42 Commercial Union Assurance plc 91,429 22.86
Legal & General Group plc 98,761,695 3.40 Mr P. S. and Mrs J. Allen 86,999 21.75
Barclays PLC 93,254,320 3.14 Bassett-Patrick Securities Limited* 46,255 11.56
The Capital Group of Companies, Inc 95,578,555 3.01 E M Behrens Charitable Trust 20,000 5.00
11% cumulative preference shares: Mrs Gina Wild 19,800 4.95
Guardian Royal Exchange Trustees of The Stephen Cockburn
Assurance plc 129,830 25.97 Limited Pension Scheme 19,879 4.97
Windsor Life Assurance Miss Elizabeth Hill 16,124 4.03
Company Limited 51,510 10.30 Mr W. T. Hardison Jr. 13,532 3.38
Mr S. J. and Mrs J. A. Cockburn 30,810 6.16 Ms C. L. Allen 13,200 3.30
Cleaning Tokens Limited 25,500 5.10 Ms J. C. Allen 12,750 3.18
* Notification has been received on behalf of Mr A. W. R. Medlock and Mrs H. M. Medlock that they each have an interest in the
holding of 51⁄2% cumulative preference shares registered in the name of Bassett-Patrick Securities Limited noted above and that
there are further holdings of 5,300 and 5,000 shares, respectively, of that class registered in each of their names.