Subsidiary | |
Industry | Finance and insurance |
Founded | 1727 |
Headquarters | Edinburgh, Scotland |
Key people
|
Ross McEwan (CEO) |
Products |
Finance and insurance Consumer Banking Corporate Banking |
Number of employees
|
92,400 |
Parent | Royal Bank of Scotland Group |
Website | www |
Footnotes / references 1 Wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc. 2 Royal Bank of Scotland Group total. |
Royal Bank of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba, Scots: Ryal Baunk o Scotland, Welsh: Banc Brenhinol yr Alban), commonly abbreviated as RBS, is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Scotland has around 700 branches, mainly in Scotland though there are branches in many larger towns and cities throughout England and Wales. Both the bank and its parent, The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, are completely separate from the fellow Edinburgh based bank, the Bank of Scotland, which pre-dates The Royal Bank of Scotland by 32 years. The Bank of Scotland was effective in raising funds for the Jacobite Rebellion and as a result, The Royal Bank of Scotland was established in 1724 to provide a bank with strong Hanoverian and Whig ties.
The bank traces its origin to the Society of the Subscribed Equivalent Debt, which was set up by investors in the failed Company of Scotland to protect the compensation they received as part of the arrangements of the 1707 Acts of Union. The "Equivalent Society" became the "Equivalent Company" in 1724, and the new company wished to move into banking. The British government received the request favourably as the "Old Bank", the Bank of Scotland, was suspected of having Jacobite sympathies. Accordingly, the "New Bank" was chartered in 1727 as the Royal Bank of Scotland, with Archibald Campbell, Lord Ilay, appointed its first governor.
On 31 May 1728, the Royal Bank of Scotland invented the overdraft, which was later considered an innovation in modern banking. It allowed William Hogg, a merchant in the High Street of Edinburgh, access to £1,000 (£121,973 in today's value) credit.