RBS Group to change its name to NatWest

RG2015

Now here’s an example of marketing a brand name to benefit the business.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51500062

My former company banked with RBS and I occasionally visited the corporate team at the RBS offices in Bishopsgate. It was telling that the ones we dealt with (Relationship Director and senior managers) were at pains to point out that they were all NatWest people and not RBS.

It was a definite us and them situation.

RG2015

“ Ms Rose (Alison Rose, new RBS CEO) told the BBC's Today programme that the name change would not alter any services for RBS or NatWest customers.”

That’s a shame. One might have hoped for an improvement in their services.   

EssexExile

I've not had dealings with RBS but if they think NatWest has a better reputation then they must be truly awful.

blue.peter

EssexExile said:

I've not had dealings with RBS but if they think NatWest has a better reputation then they must be truly awful.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other. As far as I can tell, the only differences are in the badge engineering. They seem to offer the same products and use the same systems and processes. In some cases, they even use the same staff - for example, when I switched my account to RBS last year, I found that the switch was handled by NatWest staff.

I wouldn't say that RBS is "truly awful", but they ain't good. Whilst I haven't had any experience worthy of a complaint, I've had a stream of minor irritations. The cumulative effect is one of dissatisfaction. I regret having been sucked in by their switch offer, and will be dumping them as soon as I've received the £50 promised for staying a year.

RG2015

blue.peter said: I wouldn't say that RBS is "truly awful", but they ain't good. Whilst I haven't had any experience worthy of a complaint, I've had a stream of minor irritations. The cumulative effect is one of dissatisfaction. I regret having been sucked in by their switch offer, and will be dumping them as soon as I've received the £50 promised for staying a year.

Just out of interest, which bank(s) would you recommend?

blue.peter

RG2015 said:

blue.peter said: I wouldn't say that RBS is "truly awful", but they ain't good. Whilst I haven't had any experience worthy of a complaint, I've had a stream of minor irritations. The cumulative effect is one of dissatisfaction. I regret having been sucked in by their switch offer, and will be dumping them as soon as I've received the £50 promised for staying a year.

Just out of interest, which bank(s) would you recommend?

1. I'm not convinced that any bank warrants a recommendation as such. They all seem to have cut costs to the bone, with a resultant adverse effect on service.
2. Banks are big and employ a lot of people. Some of those staff are better than others. Different customers will have different experiences of the same bank.
3. Different people look for different things in banks. Something that irritates me might actually be something that you like.
   

So, based solely on my own subjective opinion:

1. First Direct is pretty good on service. They're generally poor on product design and development, but with exceptions - their Offset Mortgage was brilliant for me when I had one (I paid it off several years ago). I dropped them in 2015, after 25 years, and still have some regrets about doing so.
   
2. Santander is OK until you have to phone them about anything. Their phone service is dire. Their online banking system is (IMO) good. The 1-2-3 current account used to be pretty good, but is now a dead duck. I left them as a result of information they gave me about changes they were making. However, I later discovered (after it was too late) that I'd been misinformed.
   
3. RBS, although not truly awful, is the worst with which I've ever had an account of my own.
4. I have to deal with both Lloyds and the Halifax in my capacity as my mother's attorney. Neither makes anything easy, and I dislike their online banking system.
5. I haven't been near Barclays since 1990. I wasn't impressed with them then, but I've little idea how they've changed in the last 30 years.
   
6. In the last month or so, I've opened accounts with the Nationwide (to keep as a second account, and to earn a bit of interest) and TSB (eventually to replace my RBS account, but also to earn a bit of interest in the meantime). In both cases, I opened the accounts in the local branches rather than online. I dealt with pleasant and helpful ladies in both. The accounts were both up and running quickly (especially the TSB one - the account was open and I had online access before I left the branch). Everything has gone very smoothly with both so far. At the moment, I'm feeling optimistic about both. That's the closest I'll get to an outright recommendation. Remember, though, that these are early days and my opinion might change with experience.

That's pretty long-winded and lukewarm, but I hope that it helps.

RG2015

Thanks @blue.peter. I agree about Nationwide although many on this site don't share this view regarding its technical offerings as very dated.

As regards the re-branding though, I wonder if the majority shareholder has any say in this move which seems an unnecessary cost.

Fingerbobs

It's interesting. I have or have had accounts with most of the major banks, and I so rarely need to actually interact with their customer services that it's difficult to tell them apart.

Coincidentally, I just today had to phone NatWest to make a change to my account (couldn't be done online) and I found them superb. I was put straight through to a real person (no holding) who was switched-on and knew what they were doing, and dealt with my request within a couple of minutes. 10/10 I'd say, based on that one experience. 

blue.peter

RG2015 said:

Thanks @blue.peter. I agree about Nationwide although many on this site don't share this view regarding its technical offerings as very dated.

No problem. I meant to finish by inviting similar thoughts from you, and would be interested if you want to say more. As for Nationwide, I'd rather have dated offerings if they do what I want and work smoothly.

RG2015 said:
As regards the re-branding though, I wonder if the majority shareholder has any say in this move which seems an unnecessary cost.

Majority shareholder as in UK government, you mean? In practice, this isn't anything about which shareholders have much say. But if they agree with the CEO's view (and I doubt if they'd disagree), I'm sure they'd be happy to go along with it.

blue.peter

Fingerbobs said:
Coincidentally, I just today had to phone NatWest to make a change to my account (couldn't be done online) and I found them superb. I was put straight through to a real person (no holding) who was switched-on and knew what they were doing, and dealt with my request within a couple of minutes. 10/10 I'd say, based on that one experience. 

Here's a perfect illustration of my comment above about different customers having different experiences of (effectively) the same bank. The couple of times I've had to phone RBS have been pretty unpleasant experiences. Awful menu system, long and irrelevant messages to endure, ill-mannered and unhelpful staff. 3/10 from me. I'm very glad that you had a good experience.

stclair

What they should have done years ago was get rid of RBS in England and Wales and just keep it to Scotland.