Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC to rebrand as Natwest Group PLC next Wednesday

Group PLC () has explained it will officially rebrand by itself as Natwest Group PLC from July 22, retaining the RBS manufacturer at its Scottish branches but operating as NatWest in its other marketplaces.

The banking giant, which also owns the Queen’s financial institution Coutts and is aspect-owned by the United kingdom taxpayer, explained it will make a subsequent announcement when the identify adjust takes influence, though its ticker on the LSE will also adjust.

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RBS explained the identify adjust options sort aspect of a system to align its group identify “with the manufacturer less than which the the greater part of our business enterprise is delivered”, as around eighty% of the company’s shopper base originates from its Natwest division.

On the other hand, the identify adjust may well also be a transfer by the financial institution to lastly attract a line less than the lingering toxicity of its RBS identify, which has continued to pervade given that the 2008 economical disaster amid a litany of scandals above payment security insurance (PPI), rate correcting and the conduct of its Worldwide Restructuring Group (GRG) business enterprise unit.

A report printed by the Monetary Carry out Authority (FCA) final 12 months observed that GRG had mistreated modest and medium sized companies (SMEs) which were transferred to its control soon after the crash, with an independent evaluate also uncovering proof of options to drain companies of funds in buy to get property and equity and raise bonuses for certain staff members.

Rebrands: the excellent, the lousy and the unappealing

RBS’s imminent rebrand also is the hottest chapter in the chequered record of important company rebrands.

Perhaps one particular of the much more famous illustrations of a rebrand gone mistaken was the 2001 identify adjust of Royal Mail Group PLC () to ‘Consignia’, aspect of a system by then chief govt John Roberts to grow the scope of the business enterprise and attempt to force into intercontinental marketplaces.

The £2mln rebrand became an quick laughing inventory and lasted around sixteen months before it was canned, with Roberts himself currently being consigned to the checklist of previous CEOs of the business soon soon after.

Even though Royal Mail’s small-lived rebrand was aspect of an effort to glance to the future of the business enterprise, the rebrand of Arthur Anderson’s consulting arm to in 2001 was, substantially like RBS, a bid to reduce the business off from its toxic earlier.

As soon as one particular of the most widely revered accountancy companies, Arthur Anderson’s name was left in tatters following its function in the individual bankruptcy of US vitality giant Enron, which was observed to have made use of questionable accounting tactics to conceal debt off its harmony sheet which had been signed off by Anderson’s accountants.

On the other hand, some company rebrands have much more mundane objectives in intellect, this sort of as the 2015 rebrand of look for engine giant Google to ().

The tech business fashioned Alphabet as a father or mother to the main look for engine business enterprise, which stays its most significant asset, though also allowing it to scale the administration of its other business enterprise arms, quite a few of which incorporate study & improvement companies building technological know-how associated to self-driving autos and other so-called ‘moon-shot’ projects.

Shares in RBS were .4% reduce at 121p in mid-afternoon buying and selling on Thursday.