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A brief history of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is one of the world's leading financial services providers, and one of the oldest banks in the UK.

Following the takeover of National Westminster Bank in 2000, the Group's global business has continued to grow. In addition to a strong UK presence, we have offices in Europe, the USA and Asia. By the end of 2002, we were the second largest bank in Europe and the fifth largest in the world by market capitalisation.

In the UK, the RBS branch network covers the nation and boasts a pedigree of great variety and distinction. Our history is very much the history of banking in the British Isles for the past four centuries - we can trace our roots back to the 16th Century through the amalgamation of more than 200 private and joint-stock banks.

The Royal Bank of Scotland was founded in Edinburgh by Royal Charter in 1727 and for several decades we traded solely from our head office in the city's Old Town. However, in 1783, we opened our first branch office in Glasgow and went on to develop a large network of offices throughout Scotland during the 19th Century.

In 1874, The Royal Bank of Scotland opened a branch office in London and from the 1920s developed, by acquisition, a major presence in England. Banks which joined the Group during these years included Drummonds (established c.1712), Williams Deacon's Bank (established 1836), Glyn, Mills & Co (established 1753) and Child & Co (established c.1580), with business in London, north-west England and overseas.

By 1970, following The Royal Bank of Scotland's merger with the Edinburgh-based National Commercial Bank of Scotland (comprising the former National Bank of Scotland, established 1825) and the Commercial Bank of Scotland (established 1810), we accounted for more than 40 per cent of Scotland's banking business.

Under the Williams & Glyn's Bank banner, we also had a large and growing presence in England and Wales. In 1985, Williams & Glyn's merged fully with the Group's Scottish clearing bank which, thereafter, traded throughout Britain as a single entity - The Royal Bank of Scotland.

During the 1980s, the Group diversified. We set up the innovative car insurance company Direct Line in 1985 and acquired Citizens Financial Group (established 1828) of Rhode Island in the USA in 1988. Both were to prove highly successful ventures.

During the early 1990s, we refocused on our core business of retail banking, acquiring the private bank of Adam & Company (established 1983) in 1992. We launched Direct Banking in 1994 and it quickly became Britain's fastest growing 24-hour telephone banking operation. Then, in 1997, we announced the UK's first on-line banking service, as well as embarking on joint financial services ventures with Tesco and Virgin Direct.

In 2000, in the biggest takeover in the history of British banking, the Royal Bank acquired National Westminster Bank plc to create a huge group with a highly diversified portfolio of services for personal, business and corporate customers.

National Westminster Bank had been formed in 1968, when National Provincial Bank (established 1833), along with its subsidiary District Bank (established 1829), and Westminster Bank (established 1836), agreed to merge. This combined bank, which began trading in 1970, could also trace its history back down the centuries through its own lineage of prestigious constituent banks.

From the late 1970s, National Westminster Bank had grown rapidly, extending its activities beyond domestic retail banking by developing overseas and merchant banking interests. In 1995, the bank was restyled NatWest Group to reflect the positioning of the company as a portfolio of businesses.

After the merger of the Royal Bank and NatWest, the businesses of the two groups were combined, and the enormous task of integrating our IT systems began. Scheduled to be completed in 2003, it was the largest project of its kind ever attempted, and was actually finished in November 2002 - four months ahead of target.

NatWest's retail bank continues to operate as a distinct and separate brand on the high street.