A Short History

A SHORT HISTORY

  • 1727 – The Royal Bank of Scotland founded in Edinburgh by Royal Charter
  • 1783 – We opened our first branch, in Glasgow
  • 1874 – Opened a branch office in London
  • 1924 – Acquired Drummonds Bank
  • 1930s – Acquired William Deacon’s Bank, Glyn, Mills & Co and Child & Co.
  • 1969 – Merged with the National Commercial Bank of Scotland and now accounted for more than 40% of Scotland’s banking business
  • 1985 – Direct Line set up and RBS Singapore branch opens
  • 1988 – Citizens Financial Group of Rhode Island acquired
  • 1992 – Acquired the private bank of Adam & Company
  • 1994 – Launched Direct Banking, quickly becoming Britain’s fastest-growing 24 hour telephone banking operation
  • 1997 – Announced the UK’s first fully-fledged online banking service
  • 2000 – Acquired National Westminster Bank plc (NatWest) in the biggest takeover in British banking history
  • 2001 – RBS opens first branch in Toyko
  • 2003 – NatWest integration successfully completed in February with the original targets for cost savings and revenue benefits exceeded
  • 2003 – Acquired Churchill Insurance, forming the UK’s second-largest general insurer
  • 2004 – Acquired Charter One and first RBS branch in Sydney opens
  • 2005 – Signed strategic investment and co-operation agreements with the Bank of China, the second-largest bank in China. RBS opens office in Seoul, Korea and first RBS branch in Labuan, Malaysia
  • 2006 – Global Operations centre in Singapore and Marketing office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia opens
  • 2007 – Acquired ABN AMRO


Facts

  • We serve over 25 million retail customers in the UK through one of the largest branch networks in the country.
  • We have over 4,500 free-to-use ATMs in the UK – that’s 1 in 8 of all free-to-use ATMs in the country.
  • RBS has 25 mobile banking routes, serving our customers in rural and remote locations across the UK. In 2008 our mobile branches made 25,000 stops, serving around 100,000 customers.
  • Last year RBS processed over 10 million transactions every day through our Streamline business.
  • We are supporting our small business customers through the challenging economic conditions: overdraft limits and charges have been frozen for SMEs for twelve months, which is benefiting up to 1 million small businesses.
  • We have more locally based business banking Relationship Managers than any other bank in the UK. RBS has extensive geographical reach across Britain through our network of 3,800 relationship managers based at our more than 2,280 branches and 100 business centres.
  • In 2008 RBS launched FirmStart, which aims to encourage people to think about how they can start up in business so they have the freedom and independence to grow by their own efforts.
  • RBS is also supporting our mortgage customers during the economic downturn: we have increased the time customers are given to catch up on their mortgage repayments if they fall behind to 6 months – double the Government’s recommended 3 months.
  • MoneySense advisers are in 1,000 of our branches, helping people to manage their money better. Consultations with these advisers have had a variety of impacts – for example, some customers have been able to reduce their monthly home insurance payments, while others have even avoided having to sell their homes.
  • Citizens is the 10th largest bank in the US ranked by both commercial bank assets. By commercial bank deposits it ranks 11th.
  • We are the second-largest general insurer in the UK.
  • We are the largest motor insurance provider in the UK. We are also the second largest car, home and pet insurance provider.
  • We procure over 90% of our contracted electricity in the UK and Ireland from renewable sources.
  • We use 80% recycled paper as our default plain A4 paper for printing and photocopying in all our UK and Ireland offices.
  • In 2008, RBS was one of the world’s leading global arrangers of finance to renewable energy projects – predominantly onshore wind and hydro projects.
  • Last year 90% of UK debt advisers were trained using RBS-funded materials.
  • RBS is the largest corporate supporter of the Money Advice Trust and of the Business Debtline, provided by MAT, which supports small businesses.
  • During 2008 1,192 teachers delivered 20,383 MoneySense for Schools lessons to 85,824 pupils
  • Each month, our MoneySense website receives an average of 60,000 unique visitors.
  • We have undertaken a programme of providing new ATMs across the UK in previously underserved areas (where the average distance to an existing free-to-use ATM is more than 4.5km). One new ATM in the Shetland Isles saves local people a 40km journey to the nearest other free-to-use cash machine!
  • Our fleet of 25 mobile branches continues to provide mobile banking services to more than 350 rural communities across England, Scotland and Wales, making 25,000 stops each year and serving around 100,000 customers.
  • Last year over 170,000 basic bank accounts were opened, taking our total to nearly 1.1m.
  • RBS group is working in partnership with Macmillan Cancer Support, donating £1.5m over three years to help tackle the poverty that can be caused by cancer. With our assistance, Macmillan has already been able to provide financial support to an additional 556 people, unlocking over £1.2m of funds to help with the financial impact of their cancer diagnosis.