Royal Bank of Scotland

Scottish bank

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2022 Adam and Company ceased to operate as an RBS private banking brand.
July 2020 Royal Bank of Scotland Group rebranded itself as NatWest Group, with NatWest and Williams & Glyn continuing to operate outside of Scotland.
May 2020 RBS began replacing the older 'Ilay' series of banknotes with the new 'Fabric of Nature' polymer banknote series.
2019 The Royal Bank of Scotland became a direct subsidiary of NatWest Holdings following the ringfencing of the Group's core domestic business.
January 2019 Official closure of the 54 announced branches, with criticisms from the Unite union about limited access for disabled and elderly customers.
2018 The former RBS entity was renamed NatWest Markets, and Adam and Company was renamed The Royal Bank of Scotland.
September 2018 Additional closure of 54 branches of the Williams & Glyn unit was announced.
June 2018 Closure of 162 Williams and Glyn branches completed.
April 2018 RBS Group announced plans to close 162 branches that were to have formed Williams & Glyn.
April 30 2018 Royal Bank of Scotland transferred all retail banking assets to Adam and Company plc, which assumed the Royal Bank of Scotland name.
February 2018 The Financial Conduct Authority released a 'Section 166' report from Promontory Financial Services to Nicky Morgan, Chair of the Treasury Select Committee, detailing widespread abuse of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) within the Global Restructuring Group.
January 2018 Vince Cable, leader of the Liberal Democrats, and others reignited controversy surrounding RBS's Global Restructuring Group (GRG) practices.
2017 RBS introduced the polymer £10 banknote in the 'Fabric of Nature' series, depicting Mary Somerville on the obverse with a quote from her work 'The Connection of the Physical Sciences', and featuring two otters and a poem excerpt by Norman MacCaig on the reverse.
September 2017 European Commission approved the final agreement for RBS Group to retain Williams & Glyn assets.
July 2017 The European Commission agreed in principle to the proposals, increasing the competition investment fund to £833 million.
March 20 2017 The Guardian reported RBS's involvement in the Global Laundromat investigation, revealing the bank had handled $113.1 million in suspicious money transfers linked to KGB-related funds.
February 2017 HM Treasury and European Commission reached a provisional agreement allowing RBS to retain Williams & Glyn assets in exchange for £833 million investment in SME lending.
December 2016 Both Santander and CYBG scaled back their bids due to integration challenges. RBS began exploring selling other assets or closing branches that could not be sold.
October 2016 BBC Newsnight and Buzzfeed published reports revealing a leaked internal document exposing RBS's systematic mistreatment of small businesses through the Global Restructuring Group (GRG), including fines, interest rate hikes, and loan withdrawals that often resulted in RBS acquiring equity or property at firesale prices.
October 2016 CYBG plc made a preliminary non-binding proposal for Williams & Glyn. RBS confirmed it would be unable to sell the bank by the end of 2017, potentially allowing the European Commission to take control of the sales process.
October 27 2016 Royal Bank of Scotland introduced its first polymer £5 banknote in the 'Fabric of Nature' series, featuring Nan Shepherd on the obverse with a quote from her book 'The Living Mountain', and mackerel on the reverse with a poem excerpt by Sorley MacLean.
September 2016 Santander abandoned talks about acquiring Williams & Glyn.
August 5 2016 RBS published half-yearly financial results, revealing a £2.05 billion loss for the first half of the year. The bank attributed the loss to low interest rates and uncertainties from the Brexit referendum, indicating Williams & Glyn would not survive as an independent bank.
August 5 2016 RBS Group announced the abandonment of plans to spin off Williams & Glyn as a stand-alone business due to Brexit challenges.
June 2016 A standalone ATM network for the new Williams and Glyn bank was created.
January 2016 Planning applications were submitted to local authorities across northern England for new branch signage with the Williams & Glyn brand identity.
2015 Jim Brown became CEO of Williams & Glyn, replacing John Maltby who stood down from the role.
December 16 2015 RBS confirmed receiving informal offers for Williams & Glyn's Bank and planned to complete a sale by the end of 2017. HM Treasury asked the Competition and Markets Authority to suspend its review of the bank's competitiveness.
October 2015 RBS Group submitted an application for a banking licence for the new Williams & Glyn's Bank, publishing a transition plan for its launch.
May 2015 The number of branches included in the planned Williams & Glyn's standalone business was reduced from 314 to 307.
March 2015 RBS agreed to sell its internationally managed private banking and wealth management business to Switzerland's Union Bancaire Privée UBP SA, involving client relationships in multiple countries.
2014 The Designship developed a full corporate visual identity for the new bank, including new staff uniforms revealed at an event at SS Great Britain in Bristol.
September 2014 RBS announced plans to move headquarters to London if the Scottish referendum resulted in a 'Yes' vote, potentially breaking its 300-year presence in Edinburgh.
April 2014 Landor Associates designed the logo for Williams and Glyn, featuring the words 'Williams' and 'Glyn' joined by a large ampersand.
December 2013 Announced that the bank name would be shortened from Williams & Glyn's Bank to Williams & Glyn, due to branding and website address challenges.
October 1 2013 Ross McEwan replaced Stephen Hester as CEO, taking over at age 56 with no bonus for 2013 or 2014.
September 2013 A consortium including Kuwait Investments, Corsair Capital, Centerbridge Capital, and the Church of England invested £600 million into Williams & Glyn, expecting equity in a future initial public offering.
September 2013 RBS reached an agreement to sell 314 branches to the Corsair consortium, consisting of private equity firms and institutional investors. The sale included 250,000 small business customers, 1,200 medium business customers, and 1.8 million personal banking customers.
June 12 2013 RBS announced CEO Stephen Hester would stand down in December, with a transition plan to return to private ownership by the end of 2014.
October 12 2012 Santander withdrew from the branch sale agreement.
June 2012 The bank experienced computer problems that prevented customers from accessing their accounts.
January 20 2011 Royal Bank of Scotland was fined £28.58 million for anti-competitive practices with Barclays regarding loan product pricing for large professional services firms.
August 3 2010 Santander Group agreed to purchase 318 branches from RBS for around £1.65 billion, covering RBS branches in England and Wales and NatWest branches in Scotland, with an expected completion by December 2013.
April 7 2010 Initial bidding deadline passed, with Santander Group, Virgin Money, National Australia Bank, BBVA, and JC Flowers confirmed as potential buyers.
March 2010 RBS issued a sales memorandum for a business package including 318 branches and approximately £20 billion in small business and household loans.

This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Royal Bank of Scotland & Williams & Glyn's Bank, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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