Queen <name>Elizabeth II</name>, the British monarch, has today withdrawn and annulled a knighthood given to <name>Fred Goodwin</name> in 2004, heeding the advice given to her by a forfeiture committee. <name>Goodwin</name> is the former chief executive at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) and was awarded his knighthood by the British government of the time for services to banking. The committee concluded "that widespread concerns about <name>Fred Goodwin's</name> decision meant that the retention of a knighthood for services to banking could not be sustained."

<name>Goodwin</name> was chief executive of RBS when they purchased ABN AMRO, a Netherlands bank, in 2007. The British government subsequently bailed out RBS for £45 billion, amidst the late-2000s financial crisis.

British prime minister <name>David Cameron</name> stated about the annulment: "The proper process has been followed and I think we've ended up with the right decision." <name>Cameron</name> and <name>Ed Miliband</name>, UK Leader of the Opposition, both believed Goodwin's knighthood should be removed. Miliband called it "the start of the change we need in our boardrooms."