NatWest Group plc[1] is a British banking and insurance holding company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland.

However, the Royal Bank of Scotland subsequently tabled a counter-offer, sparking off the largest hostile takeover battle in UK corporate history.

[24][25] The bank also announced that it would review the possibility of divesting some of its subsidiaries to raise further funds, notably its insurance divisions Direct Line and Churchill.

The aim was to "make available new tier 1 capital to UK banks and building societies to strengthen their resources permitting them to restructure their finances, while maintaining their support for the real economy, through the recapitalisation scheme which has been made available to eligible institutions".

Goodwin was replaced by Stephen Hester, previously the chief executive of British Land, who commenced work at the Royal Bank of Scotland in November 2008.

[34] On 19 January 2009, the British Government announced a further injection of funds into the UK banking system in an attempt to restart personal and business lending.

[36] RBS' contractual commitment to retain the 4.26% Bank of China (BoC) stake ended on 31 December 2008, and the shares were sold on 14 January 2009.

[37][38] Also in March 2009, RBS revealed that its traders had been involved in the purchase and sale of sub-prime securities under the supervision of Fred Goodwin.

Len McCluskey, the general secretary of Unite the Union, said: "Taxpayers will be baffled as to how it is possible that while we own 84% of this bank it continues to so handsomely reward its investment bankers.

[45] In January 2012, there was press controversy about Hester's bonus—Hester was offered share options with a total value of £963,000 that would be held in long-term plans, and only paid out if he met strict and tough targets.

[46] After a large amount of criticism[47][48][49][50] in the press, news emerged of Chairman Sir Philip Hampton turning down his own bonus of £1.4 million several weeks before the controversy.

[51] In June 2012, a failure of an upgrade to payment processing software meant that a substantial proportion of customers could not transfer money to or from their accounts.

[52] RBS released a statement on 12 June 2013 that announced a transition in which CEO Stephen Hester would stand down in December 2013 for the financial institution "to return to private ownership by the end of 2014".

[59][60] In January 2012, due to pressure from the UK government to shut down risky operations and prepare for tougher international regulations, the bank announced it would cut 4,450 jobs and close its loss-making cash equities, corporate broking, equity capital markets, and mergers and acquisitions businesses.

[72] In August 2016, RBS cancelled its plan to spin off Williams & Glyn as a separate business, stating that the new bank could not survive independently.

[80] The NatWest Group is likely to remain state-owned until March 2025, a deadline which the UK Treasury has announced for selling all government shares in the business.

It also contains Lombard entity providing asset finance to corporate and commercial customers as well as some of the clients within the Private Banking franchise.

It provides a range of services to personal, business, commercial, corporate and financial intermediary customers from its base in the Channel Islands.

The group is supported by a number of functions and services departments – procurement, technology, payments, anti-money laundering, property, etc.

– and support and control functions: the areas which provide core services across the bank – human resources, corporate governance, internal audit, legal, risk, etc.

[118] In January 2009, The Guardian's City editor, Julia Finch, identified him as one of twenty-five people who were at the heart of the financial meltdown.

[119] Nick Cohen described Goodwin in The Guardian as "the characteristic villain of our day", who made £20m from RBS and left the government "with an unlimited liability for the cost of cleaning up the mess".

[120] An online column by Daniel Gross labelled Goodwin "The World's Worst Banker",[115][121] a phrase echoed elsewhere in the media.

[122][123] Gordon Prentice MP argued that his knighthood should be revoked as it is "wholly inappropriate and anomalous for someone to retain such a reward in these circumstances.

[125][126][127][128][129][130][131] RBS provides the financial means for companies to build coal-fired power stations and dig new coal mines at sites throughout the world.

[136][137] In July 2023, former MEP Nigel Farage had his account closed by Coutts, according to a report by the BBC, for failing to meet the required minimums.

[138] However, revelations published in The Daily Telegraph newspaper disproved the BBC's report and showed that financially Farage's accounts' "economic contribution is now sufficient to retain on a commercial basis", and that the accounts were closed after an internal risk committee at Coutts judged his "views were at odds with our position as an inclusive organisation".

[139] CEO Dame Alison Rose resigned after admitting to being the source of the inaccurate BBC report and for suggesting that his accounts had been closed only for commercial rather than any political reasons, and for this being a breach of client confidentiality.

[142] In November 2024, NatWest Group blocked WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Skype on company devices in the UK to stop staff using them to communicate with each other due to security concerns.

[143] The initiative of banning certain apps for staff communication came into existence after fines of more than $2.5 billion levied against other banks in the United States.