LONDON: State-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland promoted New Zealander Ross McEwan, its head of retail business, to be the new chief executive on Friday when it also announced a return to profit. RBS, 81-percent owned by the British taxpayer, said that McEwan would take charge from October, replacing Stephen Hester who recently announced he would step down before the bank returned to the private sector. “The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc announces today that Ross McEwan has been appointed as a director and group chief executive with effect from 1 October 2013,” the Edinburgh-based bank said in a statement. McEwan, 56, will receive an annual salary of £1.0 million ($1.5 million, 1.14 million euros). He will receive also a cash allowance in lieu of a pension totalling 35 percent of his salary. While he is eligible to receive a long-term incentive award in 2014, McEwan does not wish to be considered for an annual bonus in 2014 or for the remainder of 2013, the statement said. RBS announced that it had posted a net profit of £535 million in the six months to the end of June compared with a loss after tax of £2.0 billion in the first…