A former Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) manager has admitted accepting more than £600,000 in bribes from struggling business owners while working in the bank’s controversial Global Restructuring Group (GRG), a division previously accused of mistreating thousands of small companies.
Stuart Holloway, 48, who worked as a manager in the GRG unit, pleaded guilty to bribery charges at Edinburgh Sheriff Court after prosecutors said he exploited vulnerable business customers by demanding payments in exchange for favourable treatment.
The offences took place between 2012 and 2016 at RBS’s office in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, during a period when the restructuring unit was already facing intense scrutiny from regulators, politicians and the media.
GRG was designed as a “turnaround division” intended to help financially distressed businesses recover. However, the unit became notorious after allegations that it pushed viable companies into financial distress, imposed punitive fees and exploited struggling firms.
Prosecutors told the court that Holloway abused his position by offering to reduce or remove company debts, prevent loan facilities from being withdrawn or help businesses move their banking arrangements away from GRG in exchange for personal payments.
In one case outlined in the indictment, Holloway threatened a customer that unless they paid a significant sum, their account would be passed to other managers — implying that this would likely lead to the collapse of their business. The customer subsequently paid £366,100 in order to leave the division.
In another instance, prosecutors said Holloway extorted £154,447 from a separate customer and demanded the use of a golf club membership, exploiting the individual’s fear that their company would otherwise fail.
Prosecutors described how the banker placed customers in a state of “alarm and apprehension”, with victims fearing the loss of their livelihoods if they refused to comply.
Holloway had joined RBS in 2005 and began working within GRG in 2010. He entered guilty pleas earlier this week to two charges of bribery, while prosecutors accepted not guilty pleas on several other charges. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service confirmed that there were no further outstanding charges against him.
Sentencing is scheduled for 22 April.
The revelations revive scrutiny of the GRG scandal, which has cast a long shadow over the bank, now operating as NatWest Group, and its relationship with small business customers.
The controversy first came to public attention in 2013, when entrepreneur and government adviser Lawrence Tomlinson published a report alleging that GRG was deliberately pushing viable businesses into distress in order to profit from their difficulties.
A subsequent investigation commissioned by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that many companies had been “systematically mistreated” by the unit. The report, released publicly in 2018 after pressure from MPs, concluded that thousands of businesses had suffered poor treatment and that some had experienced serious financial harm.
Victims have long argued that GRG’s practices destroyed otherwise viable companies and cost entrepreneurs their livelihoods.
Following the scandal, RBS issued a public apology and established a redress scheme to compensate affected businesses.
Holloway was suspended by RBS in 2016 and later left the bank with a voluntary redundancy package in May of that year. The allegations surfaced after a business customer informed the bank in 2017 that Holloway had demanded cash payments in return for favourable treatment. Five months later the bank referred the case to Police Scotland.
A spokesperson for NatWest said the conduct was entirely unacceptable and outside the bank’s internal procedures.
“This criminal activity is totally unacceptable and relates to the unauthorised, private behaviour of an individual, which fell entirely outside the bank’s policies and processes for the treatment of customers,” the bank said.
NatWest added that it would review the evidence presented at sentencing before deciding whether any further action was required, but declined to comment on whether compensation would be paid to those affected by Holloway’s actions.
The case first came to light following reporting by The Times in 2018, which revealed that police had been alerted to the allegations months before RBS executives appeared before Parliament to answer questions about the GRG scandal.
At the time, then-chief executive Ross McEwan told MPs he was unaware of any criminal investigations involving bank staff. The subsequent revelation that the bank had already referred Holloway’s case to the police prompted criticism from the Treasury Select Committee, whose then chair Nicky Morgan said the bank had fallen short of the transparency expected by Parliament.
McEwan later apologised for what he described as “any confusion”, saying he believed the bribery allegations were unrelated to the issues being examined by the committee.
The GRG scandal ultimately triggered a broader crisis of confidence in the bank, led to renewed scrutiny of the regulator’s handling of the affair and prompted questions about the government’s oversight of RBS at the time, when it remained majority-owned by taxpayers following the financial crisis bailout.
Investigations into the division found that nine in ten small and medium-sized companies handled by GRG experienced some form of mistreatment, while one in six viable businesses suffered “material financial distress” as a result of its actions.
Although the unit was presented as a restructuring arm intended to help companies recover, only around one in ten businesses returned intact to mainstream banking after passing through GRG, according to the FCA report.
The case against Holloway now represents one of the clearest examples of alleged criminal behaviour connected to the division that was at the centre of one of the UK banking sector’s most controversial scandals.
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Former RBS manager admits taking £600,000 in bribes from struggling business customers