RBS Online Banking Refresh Coming

WillPS

gary1312 said:

WillPS said:

gary1312 said:

WillPS said:

It should be noted that the plan to shrink the Royal Bank brand back to Scotland has been in the air for years - the English and Welsh branches (except Holts, Childs, Drummonds and possibly Berwick) were all to transfer to Williams & Glyn (and then onward to Santander at one point).

I'm aware that the branches you mention were to go to W&G but I'm interested to know if there was ever a firm plan to run those branches as a seperate stand-alone bank or would it always have been a case of another bank basically buying the branches/accounts and then rebranding?

As I understand it, the original plan in 2013 was to float it (with Corsair, which is/was s'tn to do with the Anglican Church as major shareholder):
RBS sells 314 branches to church-backed Corsair consortium | Royal Bank of Scotland | The Guardian

By the end of 2015, despite the carve out process still being at the 'planning' phase, Virgin Money and Santander were both considering making an offer for the branches earmarked for W&G:
Santander And Virgin Eye RBS Branch Takeover | Business News | Sky News

Santander walked away, and then came back in August 2016:
Santander UK In Talks Over Swoop On RBS Unit | Business News | Sky News

Before firmly closing the door the next month:
RBS suffers fresh setback in Williams & Glyn spin-off plan | Royal Bank of Scotland | The Guardian

Then Clydesdale (which was still separate from Virgin at this point) had a go:
Clydesdale confirms Williams & Glyn offer - BBC News

It can reasonably be assumed that had any of the above taken over then the W&G brand would have been either temporary or a brand that only existed on paper. Unlike TSB (which had been maintained, albeit secondarily) the W&G name had almost no brand equity. 

LBG seized the opportunity to offload a load of their business with both hands and got on with it. RBS on the other hand seemed to wobble about it - being charitable perhaps there were more organisational blockers - RBS systems were older than LBG's and LBG had in their recent history consumed TSB, then HBOS so perhaps the process of creating another bank within their systems was just simpler. Either way, they clearly were not sufficiently motivated to resolve those blockers. Perhaps there was an unwillingness from the inside or a belief that if they kick the can down the road long enough... 

And as we know the branches themselves are all gone (or going soon) completely now, so those two can be assumed to be worthless. I wonder whether the rejection of the Santander and Clydesdale bids is now viewed with some regret.

(Although of course Natwest Group still have the relationships which they would have had to dispose of.)

An interesting read, thank you. The only visible change I noticed during the 'carve-up' was the RBS-branded ATMs at the Liverpool branch bring replaced by generic 'Note Machine' ATMs, of the kind you'd normally find outside shops and the like. 

And now the fantasist in me is thinking about an alternative universe where Clydesdale bought W&G, rebranded them to Yorkshire Bank and I'm still a customer. Not sure how likely that would have been in reality mind.

Yeah that was bizarre. Corsair (who wanted to take a major stake in the floated W&G) were something to do with Notemachine, I assume the ATMs were perhaps part of a settlement for RBS failing to meet targets toward the flotation plans - but totally speculating.

[Deleted User]

I recall threads back then, the only way Child and CO was discovered was because RBS suggested people move their accounts there to remain in RBS and not go to Santander. If I remember right.

btw I have received an RBS CC today and it's the same old design. 

Marchitiello

[Deleted User] said:

I recall threads back then, the only way Child and CO was discovered was because RBS suggested people move their accounts there to remain in RBS and not go to Santander. If I remember right.

btw I have received an RBS CC today and it's the same old design. 

I do not think so, there were threads about C&Co and Drummonds before talks of RBS branch closures, mostly about trying to get cards and stationery that made one feel he had a Private Bank account… 

[Deleted User]

Marchitiello said:

[Deleted User] said:

I recall threads back then, the only way Child and CO was discovered was because RBS suggested people move their accounts there to remain in RBS and not go to Santander. If I remember right.

btw I have received an RBS CC today and it's the same old design. 

I do not think so, there were threads about C&Co and Drummonds before talks of RBS branch closures, mostly about trying to get cards and stationery that made one feel he had a Private Bank account… 

Ok I must have remembered wrong.