22 April 2026 , 22:12
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A Royal Bank of Scotland manager who stole nearly £250,000 from his customers has been jailed.
Stuart Holloway, 49, was a relationship manager with the Royal Bank of Scotland’s specialist Global Restructuring Group which aimed to support companies facing financial difficulties.
Evidence led by prosecutors showed the crook asked customers to make personal payments to himself and family members to remove his clients’ financial liabilities to the bank. Holloway, of Bury, Greater Manchester, stole a total of £274,811 between 2012 and 2016 from clients whose business portfolios he controlled.
He was jailed for 21 months at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Wednesday, April 22 after admitting two charges under Bribery Act legislation.
The court heard how he asked one man whose business was in financial difficulty for £20,000 to help him pay for one of his parent’s weddings. He continually asked for money to release the man and his wife from personal guarantees to RBS.
Between March 2012 and February 2013, the man ended up paying £109,511 to accounts belonging to Holloway and two family members. He told another client there was “a lot” he could do to help with his finances but “nothing was for nothing”.
Thereafter, he began to repeatedly request payments to his personal bank accounts and the accounts of two family members and a friend. Those requests led the man to sell a property in Spain to finance payments to the crook.
He also re-mortgaged the family home at Holloway’s suggestion - increasing it from £90,000 to £590,000, and paying the £500,000 towards the money owed to the bank. The rogue banker kept telling his client that his operation was legal despite the money being for himself and not RBS.
At times he requested extra money, claiming he needed to give it to colleagues who assisted.
Prosecutor Sineidin Corrins, of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: “Stuart Holloway’s criminal conduct amounted to an egregious betrayal of trust. His job within the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Global Restructuring Group was to help vulnerable customers whose businesses were in financial difficulties.
“Instead, he exploited that relationship by stealing a significant amount of money from them in return for preferential treatment. This is not a victimless crime and only added to the financial woes of those involved.
“But thanks to the work of prosecutors at the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and Police Scotland, he will now serve a jail sentence to account for his crimes.”
Technology & Business Editor