RBS shakes up board with non-exec appointments

LONDON Aug 27 (Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) appointed three new directors on Wednesday in a long-awaited board change it hopes will ease shareholder concerns over governance that surfaced after its 12 billion pound cash call.

Britain's second-largest bank said British Land (BLND.L) Chief Executive Stephen Hester, former Standard Chartered (STAN.L) and Citibank (C.N) executive John McFarlane and former Prudential Financial (PRU.N) Chairman Arthur Ryan had been appointed non-executive directors with effect from Oct 1.

Lawrence Fish and Charles Koch will retire as non-executive directors ahead of the bank's next annual general meeting in April 2009.

State-owned bank Northern Rock said separately Hester would step down as its non-executive deputy chairman on Oct 1.

(Reporting by Clara Ferreira-Marques; editing by Sue Thomas)