UK lawyer Robert Elliott to be next chairman of Permanent TSB

Permanent TSB, which is 75 per cent State owned, has confirmed the appointment of Robert Elliott as its next chairman with effect from March 31st.

He will succeed Alan Cook, who retires from the role at the end of March, having completed six years as chairman.

Mr Elliott retired recently as chairman and senior partner of the international law firm Linklaters, having been in the role from 2011 to 2016. He continues to work there as a part-time chairman emeritus and a partner consultant.

Mr Elliott was previously global head of banking with the firm, where he was responsible for 65 partners in 22 countries. This work involved advising on a number of major banking and restructuring projects.

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These included the administration of Enron Europe (2001), acting for an investor group, including Royal Bank of Scotland, in a $4 billion (€3.7bn) strategic investment in Bank of China (2005), a £12 billion (£13.8bn) rights issue for RBS (2008), and a £45 billion recapitalisation of RBS and an asset protection scheme (2009).

He studied law at the University of London and speaks French and English.

‘Exceptional expertise’

Jeremy Masding, PTSB's group chief executive, said: "Robert is one of the outstanding lawyers of his generation and has an exceptional expertise in banking. He is also an outstanding businessman and has overseen Linklaters LLP with great success over many years. We are delighted that he will be joining the group as chairman and we look forward to his leadership over the coming months and years."

Mr Elliott said, “Permanent TSB has done a tremendous job of recovering from the financial crisis and is now concentrating strongly on building a best-in-class retail and SME bank,” he said.

“I am looking forward to helping lead the bank through the next phase of its journey and demonstrating that it can play a valuable role as a competitive, customer-focused bank to the benefit of all its stakeholders and ultimately its owners.”