Fred Goodwin's journey to success and then infamy as one of the hate figures of the global financial crash began in Paisley in the late 1950s.

The son of an electrician, Goodwin was the first in his family to attend university, studying law at Glasgow.

After qualifying as a chartered accountant, he entered the banking industry through his work with a consultancy firm dealing with the liquidation of Bank of Credit and Commerce International after its collapse in 1991. He headed up a 1000-strong team based across the world at the relatively young age of 32.

This experience led to him being taken on by National Australia Bank (NAB) for their takeover of Clydesdale. Goodwin was then invited to become deputy chief executive of Clydesdale and accepted on the spot, an example of his often-reported "five-second rule" which dictated that his first instinct was the right one.

He quickly rose to director of NAB's UK operations, but his tenure was not without controversy. It was here he gained the "Fred the Shred" nickname for his brutal cost-cutting and commitment to shareholders. He often attracted the ire of unions for the cuts and redundancies which often characterised his time in charge.

He joined RBS in 1998, and was promoted to CEO in 2001 at the age of 42 after his work in the takeover of NatWest. Goodwin lived up to his reputation in the deal, cutting 18,000 jobs by merging parts of RBS and NatWest's operation.

Under Goodwin, RBS embarked on a period of rapid expansion, taking over a string of other businesses including Irish mortgage provider First Active and UK insurers Churchill Insurance and Direct Line. They also increased their US market share with the purchase of Charter One in Ohio.

Profits soared and Goodwin was credited with the transformation of RBS into a worldwide force, but some shareholders and market experts criticised the CEO for putting global company growth over short-term financial returns. This policy of expansion at all costs was later blamed for the bank's collapse, and the Paisley-born banker's dramatic fall from grace.

As the global liquidity crisis developed in 2007, he made the decision to go ahead with the takeover of ABN Amro, stretching RBS capital resources to limit, and eventually playing a significant part in the failure of the bank.

The aggressive strategy brought RBS to its knees in 2008, with the bank brutally exposed to liquidity problems after its £10bn share of the ABN Amro deal, as well as through its private equity loans and the sub-prime mortgage market in the US, increasing its exposure to the "credit crunch".

Eventually, the bank's collapse required the government to step in and effectively nationalise it to avoid complete failure. The UK Government had to rescue RBS with a £45bn bail out, just four months after investors pumped £12bn into the bank through a rights issue. As part of the deal, Goodwin was forced to step down. By January 2009 the share price of RBS was down 98% from its 2007 peak.

The behaviour and perceived arrogance of Goodwin during the crisis led to him becoming a public hate figure. His lavish spending while boss included a £350m headquarters in Edinburgh, and a partially built US centre at a cost of $500m. The company posted a £24.9bn loss in 2009, then the biggest in corporate history.

Many industry experts identified him as one of the central figures responsible for the financial crisis, and was labelled "The World's Worst Banker" in the media.

There was further public anger as it emerged he had been left with a £700,000 pension after leaving as CEO. Goodwin initially refused to reduce his pension entitlement, while politicians and campaigners attempted to claw back some of the money.

His Edinburgh home was vandalised by protesters in 2009, who smashed windows and damaged a car in his drive.

After a period of time out of the limelight, his name appeared in the media two years later after it was revealed he had a super-injunction put in place to prevent allegations of an affair while RBS boss being reported. This led to the breakdown of his 20-year marriage with Joyce McLean. He was then stripped of his knighthood for bringing the honours system "into disrepute" for his part in the financial crisis.

In May 2016, a five-year investigation into the RBS banking disaster found "insufficient evidence" to press criminal charges against Goodwin or any of his colleagues.