Neil Coulbeck

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Neil Coulbeck (1952 – July 11, 2006) was a banker with the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

Coulbeck was Head of Financial Markets for North America with RBS until June 2001, when he returned to London as Head of Group Treasury. He had been questioned by the FBI in relation to the collapse of Enron, which involved the RBS subsidiary, NatWest. He is reported to have been the executive who authorised the transfer of assets belonging to Greenwich NatWest, then a unit of NatWest bank, to a small company controlled by Andrew Fastow, CFO of Enron, as part of the alleged scam involving the NatWest Three, although there was no suggestion that he had profited personally from this transaction.

Coulbeck was found dead in a park in Chingford, London on July 11, 2006, having been reported missing by his family the previous week.

Police, who released a photo of Coulbeck, said initially that they were treating his death as "unexplained". However, Susan Coulbeck (widow) stated that her husband had committed suicide as a direct result of the NatWest Three case; i.e., he feared that he would be extradited to stand trial in the USA. She said that Coulbeck's suicide had nothing to do with any difficulties in his personal life. [1]. The subsequent inquest heard evidence from Coulbeck's widow, and the eventual verdict was that he committed suicide by slitting his wrists.[2]

Coulbeck was the author of the book The Multinational Banking Industry (ISBN 0814713963), published in 1984.

[edit] References

• Enron witness found dead in park
• 'Suicide' riddle of NatWest witness
• NatWest Three banker's suicide in the park
• The Multinational Banking Industry