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NatWest

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National Westminster Bank Plc
Public Limited Company
Industry Financial Services
Founded 1968
Headquarters 135 Bishopsgate,
London EC2M 3UR
Key people
Sir Howard Davies, Chairman
Ross McEwan, Chief Executive
Products Banking and Insurance
Number of employees
33,300
Parent The Royal Bank of Scotland Group
Subsidiaries National Westminster Home Loans
Ulster Bank
Slogan Helpful Banking
Website www.natwest.com

National Westminster Bank Plc, commonly known as NatWest, is the largest retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom. Since 2000 it has been part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, ranked among the top 10 largest banks in the world by assets. NatWest was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank (established 1833 as National Provincial Bank of England) and Westminster Bank (established 1834 as London County and Westminster Bank).

Traditionally considered one of the Big Four clearing banks, it has a large network of 1,400 branches and 3,400 cash machines across Great Britain and offers 24-hour Actionline telephone and online banking services. Today it has more than 7.5 million personal customers and 850,000 small business accounts. In Ireland it operates through its Ulster Bank subsidiary.

History

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File:NatWestLB.JPG
The NatWest branch at Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, an example of Neo-Renaissance architecture.

The bank's origins date back to 1658 with the foundation of Smith's Bank of Nottingham.[1] The creation of the modern bank was announced in 1968, and National Westminster Bank Limited commenced trading on 1 January 1970, after the statutory process of integration had been completed in 1969.[2] The famous three arrowheads symbol was adopted as the new bank's logo; it is said to symbolise either the circulation of money in the financial system or the bank's three constituents, National Provincial Bank, Westminster Bank, and District Bank (established 1829): the latter had been taken over by National Provincial Bank in 1962 and was allowed to operate under its own name until the formation of National Westminster Bank. The District, National Provincial, and Westminster Banks were fully integrated in the new firm's structure, but Coutts & Co. private bankers (a 1920 National Provincial acquisition, established 1692), Ulster Bank in Northern Ireland (a 1917 Westminster acquisition, established 1836) and the Isle of Man Bank (a 1961 National Provincial acquisition, established 1865) continued as separate operations. Westminster Foreign Bank (established 1913) was restyled International Westminster Bank in 1973. Duncan Stirling, outgoing chairman of Westminster Bank, became first chairman of the fifth largest bank in the world.[3] In 1969 David Robarts, former chairman of National Provincial, assumed Stirling's position.[4] In 1975 it was one of the first London banks to open a representative office in Scotland. It was a founder member of the Joint Credit Card Company (with Lloyds Bank, Midland Bank and Williams & Glyn's Bank) which launched the Access credit card (now part of MasterCard) in 1972 and in 1976 it introduced the Servicetill cash machine. The same banks, excluding Lloyds, were later responsible for the introduction of the Switch debit card (later branded Maestro) in 1988.[5]

Expansion

The former NatWest Tower, from the junction of Bishopsgate with Leadenhall Street in the City of London.

Deregulation in the 1980s, culminating in the Big Bang in 1986, also encouraged the bank to enter the securities business. County Bank, its merchant banking subsidiary formed in 1965, acquired various stockbroking and jobbing firms to create the investment banking arm County NatWest. National Westminster Home Loans was established in 1980 and other initiatives included the launch of the Piggy Account for children in 1983, the Credit Zone, a flexible overdraft facility on which customers only pay interest (now commonplace, this so-called pink debt was innovative when launched) and the development of the Mondex electronic purse (later sold to MasterCard Worldwide) in 1990.[6] The Action Bank advertising campaign spearheaded a new marketing-led approach to business development. Under the direction of Robin Leigh-Pemberton, later Lord Kingsdown, who became chairman in 1977, the bank also expanded internationally, forming National Westminster Bancorp in the United States of America with a network of 340 branches across two states, National Westminster Bank of Canada and NatWest Australia Bank; and opening branches on the European continent and in the Far East.[7] In 1982, the Frankfurt office of International Westminster Bank merged with Global Bank AG to form Deutsche Westminster Bank. In 1988, National Westminster Bank SA was incorporated and took over the bank's six branches in France and Monaco. In 1989, International Westminster Bank was merged into National Westminster Bank by Act of Parliament.

Completed in 1980, the bank built the National Westminster Tower (now known as Tower 42) in London to serve as its international headquarters. At a height of 600 feet (183 m) it was the tallest building in the UK until the topping-out of Canary Wharf Tower 10 years later;[8] its footprint loosely approximating the bank's logo when viewed from the air,[9] although the architect claimed the similarity was coincidence.[10] Also worthy of note is National Westminster House (now known as 103 Colmore Row) in Birmingham: the building was sold to British Land in 2007[11] and demolished in 2015.

Controversy

The bank's expansion strategy hit trouble with the stock market crash of 1987 and involvement in the financial scandal surrounding the collapse of Blue Arrow. The Department of Trade and Industry report on the affair was critical of the bank's management and resulted in the resignation of several members of the board, including then chairman Lord Boardman.[12] Later, the bank would divest its overseas subsidiaries. The North American operations were sold to Fleet Bank and Hong Kong Bank of Canada, and the Australian and New Zealand branches were sold to Salomon Smith Barney and the National Australia Bank.[13] Thereafter the bank concentrated on its core domestic business as the restyled NatWest Group, reflecting its modern positioning as a portfolio of businesses.[14] In 1993, the NatWest Tower was devastated by a Provisional IRA bomb and the bank vacated the building and later sold it.[15] Then, in 1997, NatWest Markets, the corporate and investment banking arm formed in 1992, revealed that a £50m loss had been discovered, revised to £90.5m after further investigations. Investor and shareholder confidence was so badly shaken that the Bank of England had to instruct the board of directors to resist calls for the resignation of its most senior executives in an effort to draw a line under the affair.[16] The bank's internal controls and risk management were severely criticised in 2000 and its aggressive push into investment banking questioned, after a lengthy investigation by the Securities and Futures Authority.[17] The bank's move into complicated derivative products that it did not fully understand seemed to indicate poor management. By the end of 1997 parts of NatWest Markets had been sold, others becoming Greenwich NatWest in 1998.[18]

Takeover

The old Town Hall at Ealing, London, built by Charles Jones in 1872, now a NatWest branch.[19]

In 1999, the chairman, Lord Alexander of Weedon, announced a merger with Legal & General in a friendly £10.7 billion deal, the first between a bank and an insurance company in UK history.[20] The move was poorly received in the London financial markets and NatWest's share price fell substantially.[21] Seen as a driver of the ill-advised investment banking expansion, Derek Wanless was forced to resign as chief executive following the appointment of Sir David Rowland (who became executive chairman).[22] Also in 1999, in response to the much reduced NatWest market capitalisation, the much smaller Bank of Scotland made a hostile takeover bid for NatWest. The Bank of Scotland's aim was to break up the NatWest Group and dispose of its non-retail assets. NatWest was forced to abandon its merger, but refused to agree to a takeover by a rival bank.[23] The Royal Bank of Scotland tabled another hostile offer and trumped the Bank of Scotland with a £21 billion bid.[24] The takeover of NatWest in early 2000 was the biggest in UK history. National Westminster Bank, once Britain's most profitable bank, was delisted from the London Stock Exchange and became, with its subsidiaries, component parts of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group.[25] The outcome of this bitter struggle set the tone for a round of consolidation in the financial sector as it prepared for a new age of fierce global competition.[26] The Royal Bank of Scotland Group became the second largest bank in the UK and Europe (after HSBC) and the fifth largest in the world by market capitalisation. According to Forbes Global 2000, it was then the 13th largest company in the world.[27] NatWest was retained as a distinct brand with its own banking licence, but many back office functions were merged with those of the Royal Bank, leading to over 18,000 job losses.

Divestment

Lua error in Module:Details at line 30: attempt to call field '_formatLink' (a nil value). In 2008, it was announced that HM Government would take a stake of up to 58% in the Royal Bank of Scotland in a move aimed at recapitalising the Group. HM Treasury subscribed for £5 billion in preference shares and underwrote the issuance of £15bn of new ordinary shares offered to RBS shareholders and new institutional shareholders at the fixed price of 65.5p.[28] As a consequence of the mismanagement which necessitated this rescue, the chief executive, Fred Goodwin (who secured the takeover of NatWest), offered his resignation, which was duly accepted. Chairman Sir Tom McKillop also confirmed he would stand down from that role when his contract expired in 2009. Goodwin was replaced by Stephen Hester, previously chief executive of British Land.

In 2009 the RBS Group announced that it would divest all 311 RBS branches in England and Wales (until 1985, Williams and Glyn's) together with the seven NatWest branches in Scotland as a standalone business, to comply with European Commission state aid requirements.[29][30] In August 2010, it was announced that the branches would be sold to Santander UK, along with the accounts of 1.8 million personal customers and 244,000 SME customers.[31] Santander withdrew from the sale in October 2012.[32] On 27 September 2013, the RBS Group confirmed it had agreed to sell 308 RBS branches in England and Wales and 6 NatWest branches in Scotland to the Corsair consortium. This figure was reduced to 307 by May 2015.[33] The branches will be separated from the group in 2016 as a standalone business operating under the previously dormant Williams & Glyn's brand.[34]

Structure

The old court house at Ruthin, Denbighshire, built in 1401, now a NatWest branch.[35]

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc operates internationally through its two principal subsidiaries, the Royal Bank (in Scotland) and NatWest (in England and Wales).[36] The NatWest group of companies comprises National Westminster Bank Plc and its subsidiary and associated undertakings.[37] As of 2013, the principal subsidiary undertakings of NatWest are:

  • Coutts & Co., part of RBS Group Wealth Management, incorporating Coutts & Co. Ltd. (formerly Coutts Bank von Ernst Ltd. and, from 2008 to 2011, RBS Coutts Bank Ltd., trading as RBS Coutts International), Zurich;[38]
  • RBS Securities Inc., previously Greenwich Capital Markets Inc., broker/dealer, trading as RBS Greenwich Capital (formerly Greenwich NatWest) in the US;[39] and
  • Ulster Bank Limited, incorporating, from 2001, Ulster Bank Ireland Ltd. in the Republic of Ireland.[40]

Structurally, National Westminster Bank was a wholly owned subsidiary of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group until January 2003, when ownership of the bank's entire issued ordinary share capital was transferred to The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, as holding company. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is now the ultimate holding company of both banks. At that time the entire issued share capital of Lombard North Central Plc was transferred by the bank to the holding company.[41] Ownership of National Westminster Home Loans Limited was passed to the holding company in December 2005;[42] the mortgage portfolio and related funding were transferred back to NatWest in October 2012.[43] In December 2000 the bank transferred National Westminster Life Assurance Limited to RBS Life Investments Limited, effectively establishing the business as a joint venture between the Group and Norwich Union.[44]

The following have served as chairmen of National Westminster Bank:

Tenure Incumbent
1968–1969 Duncan Stirling
1969–1971 David Robarts[45]
1971–1977 Sir John Prideaux[46]
1977–1983 Robin Leigh-Pemberton, later the Lord Kingsdown KG, PC[47]
1983–1989 The Lord Boardman MC, TD, DL[48]
1989–1999 The Lord Alexander of Weedon QC, FRSA[49]
1999–2000 Sir David Rowland

The office is currently held ex officio by the chairman of The Royal Bank of Scotland Bank Group.

Services

The NatWest branch at Camden Town, London, NW1.

NatWest provide a full range of banking and insurance services to personal, business and commercial customers, including the first dedicated bank account in Britain to be delivered and supported entirely in the Polish language.[50] The bank has won Your Mortgage Magazine's Best Bank for Mortgages award 13 times in the last 17 years, more than any other lender.[51]

The bank operates "mobile branches" using converted vans to serve rural areas around St Austell, Swansea, Carlisle, Devon and North Wales.[52][53] The service allows to customers to carry out banking transactions in remote areas where there is no branch. NatWest reintroduced the mobile service in Cornwall in 2005, after HSBC ended its own version due to costs.[54]

In 2006, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group undertook the first trial of PayPass contactless debit and credit cards in Europe.[55] The bank is introducing Visa Debit cards with the technology for current accounts, which can be used to pay for purchases up to £30 by tapping an enabled card on the retailer's terminal.[56] In an effort to enhance security, hand-held devices for use with a card to authorise online banking transactions were introduced in 2007. These card readers do not retain personal information but verify numbers during a transaction.[57]

The bank participates fully in the Faster Payments Service, an initiative to speed up certain payments, launched in 2008.[58] The bank established credit and debit card payment handling company Streamline in 1989, which was merged into RBS WorldPay in 2009.[59] The NatWest Mobile Banking app is available to personal account holders over the age of 11 with online banking, a debit card and UK mobile telephone number (beginning 07). The Emergency Cash service gives access to cash without a debit card from NatWest, RBS and Ulster Bank cash machines.[60]

NatWest is a member of the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company Limited, Bankers' Automated Clearing Services Limited, the Clearing House Automated Payment System Limited and the LINK Interchange Network Limited. The bank is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by both the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.[61] It is a member of the Financial Ombudsman Service, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, UK Payments Administration and of the British Bankers' Association; it subscribes to the Lending Code. Mortgages, available in England, Scotland and Wales only, are provided by National Westminster Home Loans Limited, a member of the Council of Mortgage Lenders,[62] the NatWest One account is a secured personal account with the Royal Bank of Scotland Plc. The Spanish Mortgage is provided by Adam and Company Plc, a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland, trading as NatWest. NatWest Insurance Services is a trading name of RBS Business Insurance Services Limited, acting as intermediary and broker for general insurance. Life Protector and Guaranteed Bond products are provided by National Westminster Life Assurance Limited.[63] RBS International trades as NatWest International in Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar. In 2010, RBS Intermediary Partners was renamed NatWest Intermediary Solutions.[64]

National Westminster Bank use the following series of six digit sorting codes formatted into three pairs separated by hyphens:

Range Note
01 former District Bank Ltd.
50-00 to 59–99 former National Provincial Bank Ltd.
55–91 in use by Isle of Man Bank Ltd.
60-00 to 66–99 former Westminster Bank Ltd.
18 for use of Coutts & Co.
98 for use of Ulster Bank Ltd.

International Bank Account Numbers take the form GBxx NWBK ssss ssaa aaaa aa, where x refers to a check digit, s to the branch sort code and a to the individual account number. The Bank Identifier Code, or SWIFT code, for NatWest (and Isle of Man Bank) is NWBKGB2L (8 digits) or NWBKGB2Lxxx (11 digits).

Litigation

The NatWest branch at St Helier, capital of Jersey, Channel Islands, built 1873.

The so-called NatWest Three — Giles Darby, David Bermingham and Gary Mulgrew — were extradited to the United States in 2006 on charges relating to a transaction with Enron Corporation in 2000 while they were working for Greenwich NatWest.[65] It has been argued that the alleged crime was committed by British citizens living in the UK against a British company based in London[66] and therefore, any resulting criminal case falls under the jurisdiction of the English courts.[67] However, the Serious Fraud Office decided not to prosecute due to lack of evidence.[68] There has been criticism that the Americans do not have to produce a prima facie case, or even a reasonable one, to extradite British citizens,[69] whereas no such facility exists to extradite US citizens to the UK.[70] On 28 November 2007 the three admitted one charge of wire fraud after a plea bargain.[71] On 22 February 2008 they were each sentenced to 37 months in prison.[72]

Following discussions between the Office of Fair Trading, the Financial Ombudsman Service, the Financial Services Authority and the major banks, proceedings were issued on 27 July 2007 in a test case against the banks to determine the legality and enforceability of certain charges relating to unauthorised overdrafts. It is argued that these are contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999; Schedule 2(e) of which gives a non-exhaustive list of terms which may be regarded as unfair, such as a term requiring a consumer who fails in his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation.[73] Penalty charges are irrecoverable at common law. The precedent for this was Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co. Ltd. v New Garage and Motor Co. Ltd. [1915] AC 79 along with Murray v Leisure Play [2005] EWCA Civ 963, where it was held that a contractual party can only recover damages for an actual loss or liquidated losses.[74] The Royal Bank of Scotland Group maintained that its charges were fair and enforceable and stated it intended to defend its position vigorously.[75] On 24 April 2008, the High Court found that although these charges could not constitute penalties, they are challengeable under the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.[76] On 26 February 2009, the Court of Appeal ruled that fees for unauthorised overdrafts and bounced cheques are subject to regulation by the OFT under these rules.[77]

In September 2009, NatWest and RBS both announced dramatic cuts in their overdraft fees. The unpaid item fee was reduced to £5 from £38 and the card misuse fee was reduced from £35 to £15.[78] The cuts came at a time when the row over the legality of unauthorised borrowing, estimated to earn current account providers about £2.6bn a year, had reached the House of Lords.[79]

Computer failures

The circular banking hall at Castle Street, Liverpool, a Grade II* listed building.

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In late June 2012, the group suffered a major computer malfunction,[80] resulting in some customers' account balances not updating correctly.[81] Completions of some new home purchases were delayed,[82][83] customers were stranded abroad,[84] another was threatened with the discontinuation of her life support machine in a Mexican hospital,[85] and one man was held in prison.[86] As a result of the error, RBS and NatWest announced that over 1,200 of their busiest branches would extend their hours throughout the week, including the bank's first Sunday opening, to enable the customers affected to access cash.[87] On 25 June, over 1,000 branches opened for extended hours,[87] and the number of phone staff was doubled.[88]

Some customers also reported problems with direct debits and standing orders being returned unpaid due to their account balances not updating correctly, however RBS said in an announcement that they would work directly with the receiving banks and companies to ensure that all payments were processed. As a result of the system outage, RBS also announced that they would work with credit rating agencies directly to ensure no customer's credit file was permanently impacted. They also announced that no customer will be permanently out of pocket because of the system outage, and launched a dedicated new freephone helpline for the incident, as well as an online help point to guide and advise customers with any queries they had during the outage.[89]

In December 2013, a similar computer failure led to a number of customers unable to use NatWest card services to pay for goods. This second major outage of services fell on what is known as Cyber Monday, where major retailers discount goods to boost Christmas shopping. The chief executive of RBS Group admitted the bank would have "to do better".[90]

Sponsorship

The name NatWest has been associated with two major cricket tournaments held in England. From 1981 until 2000, the bank was the title sponsor of English domestic cricket's main limited-overs knockout tournament, which was known as the NatWest Trophy during that period. Since 2000, the NatWest Series has been an annual one-day international tournament involving England and two visiting international teams. NatWest were also a main sponsor of the 1999 Cricket World Cup, held in England.

NatWest is sponsor of the Southern Paintball League, the leading competitive paintball series in the south of England.

NatWest CommunityForce is "a platform that empowers local projects and charities to raise awareness of their work and make their plans a reality with the support of NatWest and their local community."[91]

See also

References

  1. Samuel Smith & Co.[dead link] The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Archive Guide. Retrieved 5 April 2009
  2. National Westminster Bank Act 1969 and National Westminster Bank Act 1969 (Appointed Day) Order 1969; registered in England and Wales under the Companies Act 1985, No. 929027
  3. Mosley, Charles (ed.) Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage (107th ed.) vol.1 (p.1233) Burke's Peerage and Gentry, Wilmington, 2003
  4. Hast, Adele (ed.) Company History: National Westminster Bank International Directory of Company Histories (vol.2) St. James Press, Chicago, 1988
  5. History of Plastic Cards[dead link] The Association for Payment Clearing Services, 9 January 2006
  6. Srivastava, Lara and Mansell, Robin Electronic Cash and the Innovation Process: A User Paradigm Electronic Working Papers Series, no.23 (p.5) University of Sussex, Science Policy Research Unit, March 1998
  7. A short history of National Westminster Bank[dead link] The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, 2005
  8. Famous tower sold for top price BBC News, 17 July 1998 19:59 BST
  9. Goodway, Nick Outdated and second best, its time for the fall of Tower 42 London Evening Standard, 15 April 2010
  10. An Introduction to Building Structures University of the West of England (retrieved 3 February 2014)
  11. Pain, Steve British Land snaps up NatWest building The Birmingham Post, 17 January 2007
  12. Stanley, Christopher Cultural Contradictions in the Legitimation of Market Practice: Paradox in the Regulation of the City in Budd, Leslie and Whimster, Sam (eds.) Global Finance and Urban Living: A Study of Metropolitan Change (pp.158–160) Routledge, London, 1992
  13. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. National Westminster Bank loses fight for independence BBC World Service, broadcast 25 February 2000
  15. De Baróid, Ciarán Ballymurphy and the Irish War (p.325) Pluto Press, London, 2000
  16. Wolfe, Eric Case Study: NatWest Markets BancWare ERisk, October 2001
  17. SFA Disciplines NatWest and Two Individuals Financial Services Authority, 18 May 2000
  18. Natwest Group Announces £1,011m Profit for 1997 PR Newswire Europe, 1998
  19. Statutory and locally listed buildings in the London Borough of Ealing Ealing Civic Society. Retrieved 5 January 2015
  20. Buckingham, Lisa et al. NatWest pounces on L&G with £11bn takeover bid The Guardian, 3 September 1999
  21. Treanor, Jill and Buckingham, Lisa NatWest forced to defend merger The Guardian, 7 September 1999
  22. Profile: Derek Wanless BBC News, 25 February 2004. Retrieved 24 January 2014
  23. NatWest rejects takeover bid The Guardian, 24 September 1999
  24. Farrelly, Paul RBS issues ultimatum in £27bn bid for NatWest The Observer, 28 November 1999
  25. Treanor, Jill NatWest runs up white flag The Guardian, 12 February 2000
  26. NatWest takeover battle BBC News, 11 February 2000. Retrieved 24 January 2014
  27. DeCarlo, Scott (ed.) The World's 2,000 Largest Public Companies Forbes, Special Report, 29 March 2007
  28. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  30. Dey, Iain RBS to relaunch historic Williams & Glyn's brand after 24 year absence The Sunday Times, 13 September 2009
  31. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  35. Kightly, Charles Enjoy Medieval Denbighshire (p.10) Denbighshire County Council, September 2007
  36. Annual Report and Accounts 2006[dead link] Operating and financial review, Description of business (p.46) The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, 28 February 2007
  37. Annual Report and Accounts 2006[dead link] Notes on the accounts (14) Investments in Group undertakings (p.32) National Westminster Bank, 28 March 2007
  38. Incorporated with unlimited liability. Registered in England and Wales No. 36695. Authorised and regulated by the FSA, Register No. 122287
  39. Shares are not directly held by the bank. Incorporated in the State of Delaware, File No. 2075209 and registered in England and Wales No. FC015070
  40. Registered in Northern Ireland No. R733. Authorised and regulated by the FSA, Register No. 122315
  41. Annual Report and Accounts 2002[dead link] Report of the directors, Activities and business review (p.2) National Westminster Bank, 27 February 2003
  42. Annual Report and Accounts 2005[dead link] Report of the directors, Activities and business review (p.2) National Westminster Bank, 29 March 2006
  43. Annual Report and Accounts 2012 Financial review, Business developments (p.5) National Westminster Bank, 27 March 2013
  44. Annual Report and Accounts 2000[dead link] Report of the directors, Activities and business review (p.17) National Westminster Bank, 28 February 2001
  45. David Robarts RBS Heritage Hub. Retrieved 24 January 2014
  46. John Prideaux RBS Heritage Hub. Retrieved 24 January 2014
  47. Brewerton, David Lord Kingsdown obituary The Guardian, 25 November 2013
  48. Roth, Andrew Lord Boardman obituary The Guardian, 12 March 2003
  49. Roth, Andrew Lord Alexander of Weedon obituary The Guardian, 8 November 2005
  50. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. Your Mortgage Magazine Awards 2006–2007 Your Mortgage Magazine, 9 February 2007
  52. NatWest To Launch Mobile Banking Service NatWest, 27 September 2014
  53. http://www.rbs.com/news/2014/04/high-tech-mobile-branches-bring-services-to-rbs-and-natwest-customers.html
  54. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  55. Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Mastercard Join Forces for London Roll-out of Contactless Debit and Credit Cards MasterCard Europe, Press Release 6, 4 May 2007
  56. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  57. Bank issues net security device BBC News, 2 October 2007 13:38 BST
  58. Faster Payments – how long? BBC News, 24 May 2008 11:40 BST
  59. RBS Launches RBS WorldPay brand The Royal Bank of Scotland, 18 April 2009
  60. Howard, Bob NatWest suspends Get Cash app BBC News, 6 October 2012 15:46 BST
  61. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  62. Registered in England and Wales No. 1449354. Authorised and regulated by the FSA, Register No. 313223
  63. Registered in England and Wales No. 2668470. Authorised and regulated by the FSA, Register No. 155329
  64. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  65. NatWest Three: the US indictment BBC News, 12 July 2006 22:51 BST
  66. Randall, Jeff Natwest Three caught on extradition's one-way street The Daily Telegraph, 1 March 2006
  67. Try Natwest three in UK – Tories BBC News, 6 July 2006 17:23 BST
  68. Enron charge trio facing US trial BBC News, 24 May 2005 16:04 BST
  69. King, Oliver Lib Dem leader joins bankers' extradition battle The Guardian, 4 July 2006
  70. Stevenson, Tom Senior executives attack 'invidious, one-sided treaty' The Daily Telegraph, 6 July 2006
  71. Clark, Andrew NatWest Three plead guilty to wire fraud The Guardian, 28 November 2007
  72. NatWest Three face jail sentence BBC News, 29 November 2007 09:10 GMT
  73. The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (SI 1999/2083), implements Directive 93/13/EC (L95 OJ 29)
  74. Collinson, Patrick Have you been stung by exorbitant bank charges? The Guardian, 20 February 2007
  75. Results for the Half Year Ended 30 June 2007[dead link] Notes (6) Litigation (p.10) National Westminster Bank, 26 September 2007
  76. The Office of Fair Trading v Abbey National Plc and seven others [2008] EWHC 875 (Comm); All ER (D) 349 (Apr)
  77. Osborne, Hilary Bank charges ruling paves way for refunds The Guardian, 26 February 2009
  78. Jones, Rupert Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest cut overdraft charges The Guardian, 7 September 2009
  79. Osborne, Hilary Bank charges appeal reaches House of Lords The Guardian, 23 June 2009
  80. NatWest to open all weekend as problems persist BBC News, 22 June 2012
  81. Millions still affected by NatWest and RBS computer glitch The Telegraph – James Hall, 22 June 2012
  82. NatWest problems stop non-customers moving into new home The Guardian – Lisa Bachelor, 22 June 2012
  83. Bank boss 'must pay price' for accounts shambles: RBS chief faces calls to forfeit another bonus as crisis is linked to IT team in India. Daily Mail.
  84. Can I force NatWest or RBS to cover late payment penalties I get hit with because of its banking meltdown? This Is Money – Lee Boyce, 22 June 2012
  85. Family¿s fears cancer girl could die in Mexico after NatWest computer glitch meant crucial funds could not be transferred. Daily Mail.
  86. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  91. About CommunityForce NatWest CommunityForce. Retrieved 30 October 2011

External links