Natwest Group PLC completes name change from Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC

The lender said the identify change varieties portion of a tactic to align itself “with the brand less than which the greater part of our business enterprise is delivered”, with all around 80{bcdc0d62f3e776dc94790ed5d1b431758068d4852e7f370e2bcf45b6c3b9404d} of its customer base coming from Natwest

Natwest Group PLC has accomplished its identify change from Group PLC (), adding that its LSE-listed shares will change to the new identify with a new ticker ‘NWG’ from Thursday.

“This is a historic working day for our lender as we grow to be NatWest Group plc. Even though there will be no adjustments to our customer brands, it is a symbolic moment for our colleagues and stakeholders. The lender has adjusted essentially more than the last 10 years and now is the right time to align our group identify with the brand less than which the greater part of our business enterprise is delivered”, said chief executive Alison Rose.

“While what we are named is essential, it is how we do business enterprise that defines us…We are developing a sustainable and purposeful business enterprise that champions the prospective of our clients at each and every stage of their lives, delivers for our stakeholders and performs a good job in our society”, she added.

The banking huge, which also owns the Queen’s lender Coutts and is portion-owned by the United kingdom taxpayer, said last Thursday that it will retain the RBS brand at its Scottish branches but function as NatWest in its other markets.

It also said at the time that the identify change plans formed portion of a tactic to align its group identify “with the brand less than which the greater part of our business enterprise is delivered”, as all around 80{bcdc0d62f3e776dc94790ed5d1b431758068d4852e7f370e2bcf45b6c3b9404d} of the company’s customer base originates from its Natwest division.

Having said that, the identify change may possibly also be a transfer by the lender to eventually attract a line less than the lingering toxicity of its RBS identify, which has continued to pervade considering that the 2008 fiscal crisis amid a litany of scandals more than payment safety insurance plan (PPI), fee fixing and the conduct of its World wide Restructuring Group (GRG) business enterprise unit.

A report published by the Money Perform Authority (FCA) last yr found that GRG experienced mistreated small and medium sized firms (SMEs) which have been transferred to its command right after the crash, with an unbiased overview also uncovering proof of plans to drain firms of hard cash in get to get assets and fairness and raise bonuses for specific workers.

Rebrands: the good, the poor and the unsightly

RBS’s rebrand also is the newest chapter in the chequered record of main company revamps.

Maybe one particular of the much more well known examples of a rebrand gone completely wrong was the 2001 identify change of Royal Mail Group PLC () to ‘Consignia’, portion of a tactic by then chief executive John Roberts to grow the scope of the business enterprise and endeavor to drive into international markets.

The £2mln rebrand became an immediate laughing inventory and lasted all around sixteen months prior to it was canned, with Roberts himself becoming consigned to the list of former CEOs of the firm soon right after.

Even though Royal Mail’s small-lived rebrand was portion of an effort and hard work to glimpse to the upcoming of the business enterprise, the rebrand of Arthur Anderson’s consulting arm to in 2001 was, much like RBS, a bid to minimize the business off from its toxic previous.

At the time one particular of the most widely respected accountancy corporations, Arthur Anderson’s standing was remaining in tatters next its job in the bankruptcy of US vitality huge Enron, which was found to have utilised questionable accounting tactics to hide credit card debt off its balance sheet which experienced been signed off by Anderson’s accountants.

Having said that, some company rebrands have much more mundane ambitions in thoughts, such as the 2015 rebrand of search engine huge Google to ().

The tech firm formed Alphabet as a mother or father to the core search engine business enterprise, which continues to be its greatest asset, though also permitting it to scale the management of its other business enterprise arms, numerous of which contain research & progress corporations developing engineering related to self-driving autos and other so-named ‘moon-shot’ projects.

Shares in Natwest Group, which are even now trading less than the ‘RBS’ ticker, were .4{bcdc0d62f3e776dc94790ed5d1b431758068d4852e7f370e2bcf45b6c3b9404d} reduce at 121p in mid-afternoon trading on Wednesday.

–Adds affirmation of identify change, updates share price tag–