01 March 2006 | Rebecca Ellinor

There has been a purchasing reshuffle at the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

Andy MacLellan has been promoted to group purchasing director. He joined RBS in May 2002 as head of strategic sourcing.

His team is responsible for RBS Group global purchasing operations, which spends more than £6 billion a year.

Stewart Hosford has joined the RBS purchasing board as head of group purchasing infrastructure. He is to lead group-wide purchasing systems and processes.

Hosford was previously e-solutions director at procurement consultancy QP Group. He was one of three of the firm's management team to leave last summer after takeover talks broke down.

Ed Smith, formerly director group purchasing and property operations, has been promoted to managing director of assistance in the RBS Insurance division. The role of assistance is to support and manage the claims process.

Smith created a centralised procurement team from scratch in his earlier role.

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