Alison Rose, a veteran of 25 years at the lender, is set to succeed Ross McEwan as chief executive

Royal Bank of Scotland is set to name Alison Rose as its next chief executive, making her the first woman to lead one of Britain’s major lenders.

Rose, who has worked at RBS for 25 years, has long been the City’s favourite to succeed Ross McEwan, with rumours that she was in the running predating his resignation in April.

Her appointment is being considered by City regulators, including the Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority, and is expected to be announced in the coming weeks, according to Sky News. It comes a week after RBS’s last board meeting, where the selection process – led by its chairman Howard Davies – would have been discussed.

Once confirmed, the decision means the bank, which is partly state-owned, will have installed two women in its most powerful executive positions this year. Katie Murray was made finance chief in January.

None of RBS’s main rivals, including Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group, has ever appointed a woman in any of the top three boardroom positions in the male-dominated industry. However, the board of Santander’s UK division is chaired by Shriti Vadera.

Rose, 49, will have beaten other candidates, rumoured to include HSBC’s UK boss Ian Stuart and Whitbread chief executive Alison Brittain who previously led Lloyds Banking Group’s retail operations. Mark Bailie, a former RBS chief operating officer, has also been mentioned.

RBS did not confirm the reports, saying: “The process to appoint Ross McEwan’s successor is ongoing. Our next CEO will be confirmed in due course, once an appointment has been made.”

Rose’s career at RBS began in the early 1990s, and her rapid ascent through its ranks finally landed her the job as McEwan’s deputy chief at the lender’s ring-fenced bank, NatWest Holdings, in December.

That was on top of her existing duties as chief executive of its private and commercial banking business, where she oversaw projects such as the development of Mettle, its first digital-only bank for small and medium-sized businesses.

She has not shied away from the public eye, having led a Treasury-commissioned inquiry into the barriers facing female entrepreneurs, known as the Rose review.

She also appeared in Downing Street last month to launch the Investing in Women code, a pledge by banks to boost funding for female business owners.

Her leadership will come at a turning point for the bank, which is still trying to repair its reputation following a string of scandals and its £45bn bailout at the height of the financial crisis in 2008.

Over the past decade, RBS has been plagued by claims that it mis-sold toxic mortgage-backed securities during the lead-up to the financial crash, and that it pushed small businesses towards failure in order to strip and sell their assets for profit.

But after reaching a multibillion-pound settlement with US authorities, and being given a pass by the Financial Conduct Authority over the treatment of some small business customers, the bank has a relatively clean slate to be handed to Rose.

RBS, which is still 62% owned by the state, could be fully privatised under her watch if a government timeline to sell off its final stake by 2024 is successful. And with RBS pledging to improve customer service after languishing at the bottom of sector league tables, things are likely to improve.