Sir Philip Hampton, who has been chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland since 2009, is to leave the bank next year for the same role at GlaxoSmithKline.
He will take over from former Vodafone boss Sir Christopher Gent, who has been at the helm of the pharmaceuticals giant since the start of 2005.
RBS, which is 80% taxpayer owned, said Sir Philip will leave the company during 2015 after a suitable successor has been appointed to replace him.
Glaxo said Sir Philip, who is a former chairman of Sainsbury\'s, will join its board at the start of January and will become its chairman from September.
He joined RBS at the height of its crisis after taking the role of chairman in February 2009 to work alongside chief executive Stephen Hester.
However, his planned departure from the RBS board comes with the Government still a long way from returning the bank to private hands.
Sir Philip said today: \" It has been a privilege to serve as chairman of RBS since 2009. I am looking forward to working with my colleagues in the months ahead as we work to implement the bank\'s strategy and continue to improve the support we provide to our customers.\"
Sir Philip has been finance director at Lloyds TSB, BT, British Gas and British Steel and is a former chairman of UK Financial Investments, which manages the UK Government\'s shareholdings in banks.
Drugs company Glaxo has been in the spotlight recently after it was fined £297 million and its former country manager handed a suspended prison sentence in China for bribery.
