RBS names its first female finance director

The announcement, confirming a decision first reported by Sky News, represents a milestone in the male-dominated boardrooms of the UK’s biggest lenders.

Ms Murray has been in the role on an interim basis since the summer, when Ewen Stevenson left to join HSBC.

She is said to have impressed colleagues and City analysts during her brief stint in the post, which has coincided with a turbulent period for shares in RBS and the wider banking sector amid deepening Brexit uncertainty.

Ms Murray will be paid a base salary of £750,000 plus a fixed share allowance of £750,000 when she takes up the role on a permanent basis on 1 January.

She joined RBS as director of finance in November 2015 and previously held roles at Old Mutual and KPMG.

RBS Chairman Howard Davies said: “I am pleased to welcome Katie to the RBS Board following a successful period as interim CFO.

“She has already contributed significantly to RBS over the last three years as the bank has resolved its last major legacy issues, returned to profit and restarted paying dividends.”

Ms Murray had been viewed as the leading internal candidate to replace Mr Stevenson but faced competition from external contenders including William Chalmers, a veteran financial institutions banker at Morgan Stanley.

She will be part of the team overseeing RBS’s implementation of the ring-fencing regime which comes into effect next month, more than a decade after the bank was rescued with £45.5bn of taxpayers’ money.

Ms Murray said: “I am delighted to take up this role… as we continue to build a bank that is simple and safe for customers, produces positive returns for shareholders and makes a major contribution to the UK economy.”

Ross McEwan, RBS’s chief executive, is expected to retire from the role in 2020, with Alison Rose, another senior executive at the group, the likeliest internal candidate to succeed him.

If Ms Rose were to land that job, it would be a landmark moment in British banking, with women holding the top two executive posts.

RBS’s recovery has been accelerating over the last 12 months as it has returned to profit and restored dividend payments to shareholders a decade after its bailout.

Earlier this year, the Treasury reduced its shareholding to 62.4% by offloading a 7.7% stake to institutional investors.

In his budget, Philip Hammond, the chancellor, outlined plans to sell the remainder of the government’s stake during the next five years.