Industry | Investment Banking |
---|---|
Founded | 2016 (1992) |
Headquarters | 135 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 3UR |
Key people
|
Sir Howard Davies, Chairman Ross McEwan, Chief Executive |
Products | Financing and Risk Solutions Trading and Flow Sales |
Parent | The Royal Bank of Scotland Group |
Website | natwestmarkets |
NatWest Markets is the investment banking arm of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group. It was created from the Group's corporate and institutional banking division in 2016, as part of a structural reform intended to comply with the requirements of the Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 and to give the NatWest brand greater prominence. The Act implements the Independent Commission on Banking recommendation that domestic retail banking should be "ring-fenced" from riskier trading activities by 2019.
To give it legal form, it is proposed that the current Royal Bank of Scotland Plc will be renamed NatWest Markets Plc in 2018; at the same time Adam and Company Plc (which holds a separate PRA banking licence) will be renamed Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, with Adam and Company continuing as an RBS private banking brand.
The NatWest Markets name was previously used from 1992 to 1997; the remnants of which were absorbed into the RBS Group on the acquisition of National Westminster Bank in 2000.
NatWest Markets' origins lie in County Bank, which was originally formed in Manchester in 1862 and merged with District Bank in 1935. District Bank was itself acquired by National Provincial Bank in 1962 and the County Bank name was used for its merchant banking subsidiary formed in 1965. This County Bank acquired various stockbroking and jobbing firms, becoming County NatWest in 1987 and was later consolidated with corporate banking to form NatWest Markets. NatWest Markets acquired US-based Greenwich Capital in 1996 and became Greenwich NatWest following disposal of large parts of the business.