RBS brand pulled from England and Wales as bank's boss admits 'we no longer have global aspirations'
The Royal Bank of Scotland brand will be pulled from outside England and Wales as the bank attempts to allow more of its national brands come to the fore.
RBS
The RBS branches and branding outside Scotland will disappear and will be replaced by its NatWest division, while in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland it will continue to use the Ulster Bank brand.
The bank's chief executive, Ross McEwan, admitted that the decision was a reflection the bank's move away from its international ambitions.
"As the bank itself became a global brand, RBS became the global brand. I'm now saying we no longer have global aspirations, we have local aspirations," said McEwan.
He said that the RBS brand will become "our investor brand and the one that our staff are employed with, because we are now becoming much more a bank of brands"
"Each one of those brands will stand for something quite different in their own communities, and our staff will work with customers under those brands."
Some of the smaller RBS-owned brands which are used for private banking- Coutts, Adam & Co, Drummond, and Holt's Military Bank- will also get more prominence in light of the changes.
The decision comes eight years after the bank almost collapsed and had to be bailed out by the government. Since then RBS has wound down its international sport sponsorship portfolio, which used to included the likes of Six Nations rugby and Wimbledon champion Andy Murray.