Natwest Group PLC completes name change from Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC

Natwest Group PLC has finished its title improve from Group PLC (), adding that its LSE-mentioned shares will improve to the new title with a new ticker ‘NWG’ from Thursday.

“This is a historic day for our financial institution as we grow to be NatWest Group plc. Even though there will be no adjustments to our purchaser brand names, it is really a symbolic second for our colleagues and stakeholders. The financial institution has modified fundamentally above the past decade and now is the proper time to align our team title with the manufacturer underneath which the the vast majority of our business enterprise is delivered”, reported main govt Alison Rose.

“While what we are termed is vital, it is really how we do business enterprise that defines us…We are developing a sustainable and purposeful business enterprise that champions the prospective of our customers at each phase of their lives, provides for our stakeholders and plays a favourable purpose in our society”, she added.

The banking large, which also owns the Queen’s financial institution Coutts and is portion-owned by the British isles taxpayer, reported past Thursday that it will retain the RBS manufacturer at its Scottish branches but run as NatWest in its other markets.

It also reported at the time that the title improve plans formed portion of a tactic to align its team title “with the manufacturer underneath which the the vast majority of our business enterprise is delivered”, as all over eighty% of the company’s purchaser foundation originates from its Natwest division.

Nonetheless, the title improve may perhaps also be a transfer by the financial institution to eventually attract a line underneath the lingering toxicity of its RBS title, which has continued to pervade due to the fact the 2008 monetary crisis amid a litany of scandals above payment defense coverage (PPI), price correcting and the behaviour of its Global Restructuring Group (GRG) business enterprise device.

A report published by the Economical Carry out Authority (FCA) past calendar year found that GRG experienced mistreated modest and medium sized companies (SMEs) which were being transferred to its handle after the crash, with an independent evaluate also uncovering evidence of plans to drain companies of hard cash in order to get assets and fairness and strengthen bonuses for specified workers.

Rebrands: the fantastic, the bad and the unappealing

RBS’s rebrand also is the hottest chapter in the chequered background of significant corporate revamps.

Probably one of the additional famed illustrations of a rebrand absent mistaken was the 2001 title improve of Royal Mail Group PLC () to ‘Consignia’, portion of a tactic by then main govt John Roberts to grow the scope of the business enterprise and attempt to drive into international markets.

The £2mln rebrand turned an prompt laughing stock and lasted all over sixteen months in advance of it was canned, with Roberts himself staying consigned to the list of former CEOs of the business shortly after.

Although Royal Mail’s short-lived rebrand was portion of an exertion to search to the long term of the business enterprise, the rebrand of Arthur Anderson’s consulting arm to in 2001 was, a lot like RBS, a bid to cut the firm off from its poisonous earlier.

The moment one of the most broadly revered accountancy corporations, Arthur Anderson’s reputation was still left in tatters subsequent its purpose in the individual bankruptcy of US electricity large Enron, which was found to have made use of questionable accounting tactics to conceal personal debt off its harmony sheet which experienced been signed off by Anderson’s accountants.

Nonetheless, some corporate rebrands have additional mundane aims in mind, these types of as the 2015 rebrand of search motor large Google to ().

The tech business formed Alphabet as a parent to the main search motor business enterprise, which stays its premier asset, when also allowing it to scale the management of its other business enterprise arms, many of which involve analysis & improvement corporations creating engineering linked to self-driving automobiles and other so-termed ‘moon-shot’ jobs.

Shares in Natwest Group, which are nevertheless buying and selling underneath the ‘RBS’ ticker, were .4% reduce at 121p in mid-afternoon buying and selling on Wednesday.

–Provides confirmation of title improve, updates share selling price–