Brian P. Lancaster Joins RBS as Head of MBS, CMBS, and ABS Strategies for Global Banking & Markets, Americas.

STAMFORD, Conn. -- RBS today announced that Brian Lancaster has joined its Global Banking & Markets (GBM), Americas division as Head of MBS, CMBS, and ABS Strategies, reporting to John Richards, Head of Strategy, GBM Americas. Brian is the latest of several senior level additions to the GBM sales, trading and strategy teams in the US.

"Brian will be responsible for developing investment strategies for clients in MBS, CMBS, and ABS. In the coming months, we will be beefing up his team significantly with the hire of additional strategists of the caliber of our top notch analysts, such as Bill O'Donnell, Ron Thompson, and Desmond Macauley, ensuring we're well-matched with our top-rated sales and trading teams," said Richards.

"Brian brings enormous breadth and depth of knowledge to our businesses," said Jeff DiModica, head of MBS/ABS sales. "He is well known in the industry and widely respected by clients for his prescient market calls. His hire underscores our commitment to providing the highest intellectual capital to our clients -- an approach that will distinguish the RBS franchise from its competitors as liquidity and capital continue to return to the markets."

Brian has more than 20 years experience in finance. He has been voted to Institutional Investor All America Research team and named the best CMBS analyst by Real Estate Finance and Investment. He joins RBS from Wachovia Capital Markets LLC, where he served as Chief Investment Officer (CIO) in its Real Estate Division, responsible for capital allocation, business and lending strategies. Prior to this, Brian was Head of Structured Products Research at Wachovia Capital Markets LLC. Before joining Wachovia, he was a Managing Director Principal at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. where he developed MBS/CMBS/CMO strategies for clients. He began his career as a Capital Markets Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Bank of England.

Brian is a graduate of MIT, Columbia University and New York University. He is currently a member of the Executive Committee and Board of Governors of CMSA and a Governor of the Board of the MBA. He also taught finance in the Columbia University MBA program.

Brian will be based in RBS' Americas headquarters in Stamford, CT.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group

The RBS group is a large international banking and financial services company. Headquartered in Edinburgh, the Group operates in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Americas and Asia, serving more than 40 million customers. The Group provides a wide range of products and services to personal, commercial and large corporate and institutional customers through its two principal subsidiaries, The Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest, as well as through a number of other well known brands including, Citizens, Ulster Bank, Coutts, Direct Line and Churchill.