RBS Group to change its name to NatWest

Thrugelmir

RG2015 said:

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.

RBS was a tinpot regional bank until it bought the Nat West. RBS is no longer the largest bank in the world. Good timing to send it back to it's roots. If Scotland seeks independence then a demerger would seem appropriate. 

EssexExile

Oh for the days of the National Provincial Bank & the Westminster Bank. Things haven't been the same since they merged.

JezR

Maybe RBS should have continued with the name Williams & Glyn's in England 😀

alandaniel132

is that mean RBS not going to have switch offer £175 like NatWest?

fenwick458

alandaniel132 said:

is that mean RBS not going to have switch offer £175 like NatWest?

Probably yeah. I told a few friends to switch to either RBS or NatWest last year, saying the offers are the same just pick one. the ones that picked RBS are now switching to NatWest and are in line to get both bonuses. The ones that picked NatWest are upset!

caveman38

My wife banks with RBS and her nearest branch is 12 miles away although she can use the services of NW if necessary.
At the end of the year when these changes take place, she starts to draw her SP. Obviously she will have to furnish her sort code and account number. Although RBS stated that they will continue with the RBS name I am not 100% convince that the name won't change to NW. 
Would you imagine if that happened the sort code and account numbers would remain the same.

eskbanker

caveman38 said:

Although RBS stated that they will continue with the RBS name I am not 100% convince that the name won't change to NW. 
Would you imagine if that happened the sort code and account numbers would remain the same.

Yesterday's announcement relates only to the name of the top-level group entity, and specifically excludes the individual RBS and NatWest retail banking entities, which are to continue as is.  Obviously nobody can commit that it'll all be identical in five years time, or ten years or whatever, but if they were intending to do anything with the high street brand names in the foreseeable future then yesterday would have been the obvious time to announce this, so since this was excluded then it would be reasonable to conclude that it's not on the cards anytime soon.

It would be pointless to speculate on exactly how all the various hypothetical scenarios could manifest themselves at a low level of detail so cross that bridge only if you get to it!

Hasbeen

Think NatWest are being smart here if Scotland eventually gets a neverendum vote for independence, they can not be tarred with being associated with a bank name in a third world country. 

SlovakianGuy

Fingerbobs said:

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. 

Same here. I very rarely need to use a customer service of any of the 8 banks I have accounts with.

My last experience with NatWest customer service was pretty good.

I found that they have a chat in their online banking where I was able to sort out my problem. Many other banks still rely on phone calls. It's fine to have a call centre as an option but I hate when banks make it the only option.

SlovakianGuy

blue.peter said:

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).

I hope you switched to them as they both give you £100 if someone recommends you