Philip Wilkinson (banker)
Sir Philip William Wilkinson (8 May 1927 – 23 August 2007) was a British banker. He worked for NatWest all his life, rising to CEO during NatWest's period of greatest prosperity in the 1980s. Early life Wilkinson was born in Leyton, United Kingdom. His father worked for the Metropolitan Water Board. He was educated at Leyton Sixth Form College. Career Wilkinson started his working life as a clerk for the Westminster Bank in 1943, aged 16. He was called up for the Royal Navy shortly before the end of World War II and commissioned as sub-lieutenant. He served at Londonderry in Loch-class destroyers on anti-submarine duty. Returning to the bank in 1948, he rose through the clerical ranks and became secretary to the chief general manager in 1963. He was appointed branch manager for High Wycombe from 1966 to 1968 (when Westminster Bank merged with National Provincial to form NatWest), and was then seconded for three years to Orion Bank, a consortium of NatWest and international shareholders. In 1975, he became managing director of the group's leasing arm, Lombard North Central, and in 1978 he was placed in charge of all NatWest's subsidiaries. He became deputy chief executive in 1980