The Royal Bank of Scotland said it has appointed current group finance director Bruce Van Saun as chairman and chief executive of Citizens Financial, replacing Ellen Alemany, who will retire from Citizens after more than five years of service.

Nathan Bostock (currently chief risk officer) will become group finance director. Bostock will be replaced by David Stephen (currently deputy group chief risk officer) as chief risk officer. The appointments will take effect on October 1, 2013, at which point Bostock will replace Van Saun as an executive director of RBS. All will be members of the group executive committee.

Stephen Hester, RBS chief executive, said: “In the last four years we have made significant progress in making RBS a safer bank, better able to focus on the needs of its customers. Bruce has been an exceptional CFO and made an invaluable contribution to this progress. We are delighted that we are able to retain his talents as part of the group’s leadership team as he returns to the US to lead Citizens towards the partial IPO we announced in February.

“I am pleased to welcome Nathan to the board. Since returning to RBS in 2009 he has presided over our substantial restructuring program and risk improvements and he will make a great Finance Director. David Stephen joined RBS in 2010 with this succession in mind and we are happy to have him as an able successor to Nathan. I look forward to working with Bruce, Nathan and David in their new roles.

“Ellen has provided important and valuable leadership to Citizens. She steered Citizens through the most turbulent 2008/9 period and has driven its focused recovery plan since then. Ellen has been a valued colleague to me and the group executive committee of RBS. We want to thank her for all she has done and look forward to working with her on a smooth transition.”

To read the full RBS news release click here.