Williams & Glyn

This article is about the new bank being developed by RBS Group. For the former Williams & Glyn's Bank Ltd, see Williams & Glyn's Bank (historic).
The Royal Bank of Scotland plc trading as Williams & Glyn
Industry Financial services
Headquarters United Kingdom
Number of locations
 307 branches
Area served
 Great Britain
Key people
 Jim Brown (chief executive designate)
Parent The Royal Bank of Scotland Group
Website www.rbs.co.uk/williamsandglyn/

Williams & Glyn is a bank being developed in the United Kingdom by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which is planned to begin operating in 2016.[1] It will consist of 307 former Royal Bank of Scotland branches in England and Wales and former NatWest branches in Scotland.[2] RBS was required by the European Union (EU) to divest a portion of its business after HM Government took an 84% stake in the group during the 2008 United Kingdom bank rescue package, which the EU classed as state aid.

A consortium including Corsair Capital, Centerbridge Capital and the Church of England invested £600 million into the business in September 2013,[3] in exchange for equity once the bank is floated in an initial public offering (IPO). RBS is required by the EU's ruling to sell its full holding in the business by the end of 2017.[4]

Williams & Glyn will have approximately 250,000 small business customers, 1,200 medium business customers and 1.8 million personal banking customers.[5]

History

Williams and Glyn's Bank Ltd

The historic Williams & Glyn's Bank Limited was established in London in 1970, when the Royal Bank of Scotland merged its two subsidiaries in England and Wales, Williams Deacon's Bank Ltd. and Glyn, Mills & Co.[6] In 1985, the historic Williams & Glyn's Bank was fully absorbed into the Royal Bank of Scotland.[7]

Project Rainbow

In 2000, the Royal Bank of Scotland Group acquired National Westminster Bank in a hostile takeover.[8] In 2009 it was announced that all 311 Royal Bank branches in England and Wales together with the seven Scottish branches of NatWest were to be divested by the troubled group, under the dormant Williams & Glyn's brand, to comply with European Union state aid requirements.[9][10] The process was expected to take up to four years to complete.[11][12][13][14]

Agreement with Santander Group

In March 2010, it was reported that the group had issued a sales memorandum for the business, which would include 318 branches and around £20 billion in loans provided to small businesses and households. Following the deadline for initial bids on 7 April, Santander Group, Virgin Money, National Australia Bank, BBVA and the private equity firm JC Flowers were all confirmed to have submitted bids for consideration.[15] It was announced on 3 August that the Spanish Santander Group would pay around £1.65 billion for the branches, expected to be rebranded as part of Santander UK, in a deal set to be completed by December 2013.[16] Santander withdrew from the sale on 12 October 2012.[17]

Agreement with Corsair consortium

In September 2013, the group confirmed it had reached an agreement to sell 314 branches to the Corsair consortium, made up of private equity firms and a number of institutional investors. The branches, incorporating 250,000 small business customers, 1,200 medium business customers and 1.8 million personal banking customers, are due to separated from the group in 2016 as a standalone business under the Williams & Glyn's name.[5] By May 2015, the total number of branches included in the new business had been reduced to 307.[2]

Preparation for launch

In October 2015, the RBS Group submitted an application for a banking licence for the new bank.[18] The group also published its transition plan for the launch of Williams & Glyn. According to the plan, a website for the new bank will be launched in early 2016 and branch signage will be changed to the Williams & Glyn identity which will initially operate as a trading name used by Royal Bank of Scotland plc. In the latter half of 2016, customers will be able to access Williams & Glyn branded internet, mobile and telephone banking services, and will receive new branch sort codes and new debit cards.[19] To facilitate the transition to the new bank, separate internet and telephone banking systems have been created for RBS customers in England and Wales.[20]

On 16 December 2015, RBS confirmed it had received a number of informal offers for the bank, and would seek to complete a sale by the end of 2016.[21] HM Treasury subsequently announced it had asked the Competition and Markets Authority to suspend a review into how competitive the bank would be in the UK banking sector.[22]

Corporate affairs

Branding

Initially planned to be called Williams & Glyn's, based on the historic Williams & Glyn's Bank, it was announced in December 2013 that the bank name would be shortened to Williams & Glyn owing to the difficulty of using an apostrophe in branding and website addresses. The original Williams and Glyn's Bank was formed by merging Williams Deacon's Bank with Glyn, Mills & Co.[23]

A logo for Williams and Glyn was revealed by RBS Group in April 2014. The logo features the words "Williams" and "Glyn" joined by a large ampersand.[24] The historic Williams and Glyn's Bank did not have a distinct logo, instead it used the "Daisy Wheel" logo of its parent company, The Royal Bank of Scotland.[25]

Leadership

The leadership team of the part of the Royal Bank of Scotland plc that will become Williams & Glyn is composed of:

Services

The bank will offer a full range of personal and business banking and financial services, including current accounts, mortgages, credit products, insurance, and savings products. It will be is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by both the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. It will be a member of the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

References

  1. ↑ Titcomb, James; Clancy, Rebecca (21 June 2014). "RBS tells Vince Cable: We can't speed up Williams & Glyn sale". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  2. 1 2 Dunkley, Emma (28 May 2015). "RBS may need to beef up Williams & Glyn business". Financial Times. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  3. ↑ Moore, James (28 September 2013). "Church takes 10% stake in RBS division to create an ‘ethical’ bank". The Independent. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  4. ↑ Titcomb, James (7 February 2015). "RBS to spend £1.5bn carving off 'challenger bank' Williams & Glyn". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  5. 1 2 "RBS sells 314 bank branches to Corsair consortium". BBC News. 27 September 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  6. ↑ The Williams & Glyn's Bank Act 1970 (cap. 14), see HC Deb. 23 July 1970 Vol. 804 cc.758-60 for Royal Assent
  7. ↑ Williams & Glyn's Bank Ltd, London, 1970-85 The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Heritage Archives (retrieved 23 November 2009)
  8. ↑ NatWest takeover battle BBC News, 11 February 2000 09:53 GMT
  9. ↑ Announcement on the APS and State Aid Discussions The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Company Announcements, 3 November 2009
  10. ↑ Scottish Branch Sale National Westminster Bank (retrieved 23 November 2009). In 1975 NatWest had been one of the first London banks to open a representative office in Scotland
  11. ↑ Hill, Andrew Welcome back, Williams & Glyn’s, the SME’s friend The Financial Times, 13 October 2009
  12. ↑ Dey, Iain RBS to relaunch historic Williams & Glyn's brand after 24 year absence The Sunday Times, 13 September 2009
  13. ↑ Hosking, Patrick Williams & Glyn's bank could make comeback The Times, 15 September 2009
  14. ↑ Mason, Rowena and Blackden, Richard New banks on the High Street: Williams and Glyn's The Daily Telegraph, 1 November 2009
  15. ↑ Harry Wilson (8 April 2010). "RBS offers loans to buy payment-processing arm". Daily Telegraph.
  16. ↑ RBS sells 318 branches to Santander BBC News, 4 August 2010 11:40 BST
  17. ↑ "RBS sale of 316 branches to Santander collapses". BBC News. 12 October 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
  18. ↑ Treanor, Jill (1 October 2015). "RBS applies for banking licence for Williams & Glyn spin-off". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  19. ↑ "Your journey to Williams & Glyn" (PDF). The Royal Bank of Scotland. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  20. ↑ http://rbs.co.uk/englandandwales
  21. ↑ Dunkley, Emma; Arnold, Martin (16 December 2015). "RBS plans to sell Williams & Glyn next year". Financial Times. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  22. ↑ "Royal bank of Scotland's divestment of of Williams & Glyn". GOV.UK. 16 December 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  23. ↑ Slater, Steve (19 December 2013). "RBS's Williams & Glyn: shorter name as split takes shape". Reuters. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  24. ↑ Parsons, Russell (1 April 2014). "RBS unveils Williams & Glyn logo". Marketing Week. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  25. ↑ "Church of England teams up with the City to buy 314 RBS branches and create new 'ethical' High St bank called Williams & Glyn's". This is Money. 27 September 2013. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  26. ↑ "RBSG strikes pre-IPO deal for Williams & Glyn's". London Stock Exchange. 27 September 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  27. ↑ Scuffham, Matt (2015-04-28). "RBS names Ulster Bank chief as boss of Williams & Glyn | Reuters". Uk.reuters.com. Retrieved 2015-09-11.
  28. ↑ Gareth Mackie (21 October 2015). "RBS names marketing director for Williams & Glyn". The Scotsman. Retrieved 31 December 2015.

External links

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