RBS criticised over mysterious 'Silent Nine'

MSPs from across the political spectrum have been adding their voices to shareholders of the Royal Bank of Scotland this week in calling for the removal of the troubled bank's board of independent non-executive directors – the so called "silent nine."

The directors, employed by the bank to scrutinise management performance and risk analysis protocols, have become the prime suspects in the demise of the bank's share price, which has fallen 98 per cent from its high in 2007 to a low of 11.6 pence.

Tavish Scott, leader of the Scottish Liberal democrats said that he felt it was difficult to see “how any of them could survive” as he made calls for the Westminster government—which now holds a 70 per cent majority share in RBS—to make wholesale changes at the bank.

Alex Neil, an SNP member of Holyrood's finance committee has made additional demands for the Financial Services Authority to launch an investigation into whether the board had carried out its statutory duties, saying: "The independent non-executive directors have clearly failed."

The calls come after the resignation of RBS’s CEO Sir Fred Goodwin last October and also of two other non-executive directors last month.

Sir Fred has been widely criticised in recent weeks for his policy of rapid expansion at RBS, which turned a small provincial bank into the world's fifth largest by market capitalisation. Goodwin's final acquisition—Dutch bank, ABN Amro in 2007—is now thought to have been the source of the majority of RBS's exposure to the American sub-prime mortgage market – the factor that is said to have made the bank particularly vulnerable to the economic downturn.

Whilst many have been keen to blame RBS's non-executive directors for leaving Sir Fred's ambitions unchecked, Sir George Mathewson, former Chairman of RBS, has been more generous to the group saying that “there have been many actors who have failed to play their part properly.”

Following unanswered calls from The Scotsman for the "silent nine" to comment on their decision making process, an RBS spokesperson said: "They are a unitary board and will communicate with shareholders in an orderly fashion, as would be expected of them. They did so at the last general meeting and will do so at the next."