Quick Stats

Type – Public
Industry – Finance and insurance
Founded – 1727
Headquarters – Edinburgh, Scotland
Key people – Stephen Hester, Group CEO
Products – Finance and insurance, Consumer Banking,Corporate Banking
Employees – 141,0002
Parent – Royal Bank of Scotland Group
Website – www.rbs.co.uk

Brief History

The Royal Bank Of Scotland was chartered in 1727 with Archibald Campbell, Lord Ilay appointed as its first governor. In 1728, the Royal Bank of Scotland became the first bank in the world to offer an overdraft facility.

The bank opened its first branch office outside Edinburgh in 1783 when the first Glasgow branch opened.
The expansion of the British Empire in the latter half of the 19th century saw the emergence of London as the world’s largest financial centre, attracting the Scottish banks to expand south into England. The first London branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland opened in 1874.

Current Operations

The Daisy Wheel logo was later adopted by RBS subsidiaries Ulster Bank in Ireland and Citizens Financial Group in the United States.

Since 2006 the brand has moved away from referring to both the Group brand and its retail banking brand as the “Royal Bank of Scotland”, instead using the “RBS” initialism. This is intended to support the positioning of the bank as a Global financial services player as opposed to its roots as a national bank.

An example of the current branding can be found in the Six Nations Championship in rugby union, which it sponsors as the RBS 6 Nations. However, “Royal Bank of Scotland” is still used alongside the RBS initialism, with both appearing on bank signage.