F MacColl, The Key to our Success: a Brief History of the Growth of NatWest Group (London: privately published by National Westminster Bank, 1996).R Reed, National Westminster Bank: a Short History (London: privately published by National Westminster Bank, 1983, revised, 1989).The retail bank continued to trade on the high street under the NatWest brand, and in 2020 the Group was renamed NatWest Group.īranches: The bank had 3,600 branches throughout England and Wales when it was formed by the merger of the three existing branch networks in January 1970. In March 2000 it was acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland Group to create the third largest banking group in the UK. In 1995 the group was restyled NatWest Group to reflect the positioning of the company as a portfolio of businesses. Significant new ventures were, however, embarked upon, including the launch of a life assurance business, NatWest Life, in 1993. These events were accompanied by a wide-ranging review of all operations, which led to the sale of a number of businesses, including National Westminster Bancorp.
Two years later the Group's international private banking businesses were assimilated under the Coutts & Co name and in 1992 NatWest Markets was formed from the Group's corporate banking and investment arms. In 1989 a major restructuring programme, aimed at devolving more power to each business sector, commenced. Further US acquisitions followed and by 1995 National Westminster Bancorp had a branch network of over 340 branches across two states. In the USA National Westminster Bank established National Westminster Bancorp, following the acquisition of First Jersey National Corporation in 1988.
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In 1988 the Switch debit card extended the electronic transfer of money to point of sale and later developments included the Mondex card, which acted as an 'electronic purse', and interactive cable TV home banking. National Westminster Bank led the growth of on-line cash dispensing machines in the 1970s and in the 1980s further new services were developed such as telephone banking and touch-screen share dealing to assist the government's privatisation programme. Other technological developments followed the computerisation of all the bank's branches by 1970. The 'Action Bank' advertising campaign spearheaded a new marketing-led approach to business development. National Westminster Home Loans was established in 1980, to provide a comprehensive mortgage service, and other initiatives included the formation of the Small Business Unit in 1982 and launch of the first children's account, the 'Piggy Account', alongside a range of other new savings products, in 1983.
County Bank, originally District Bank's merchant banking subsidiary, acquired stock-broking and jobbing firms to create NatWest Investment Bank. In Europe National Westminster Bank's representation was supplemented by investments in France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Greece and Switzerland, whilst the purchase in 1979 of the National Bank of North America, with 141 branches in the City and State of New York, marked a move into retail banking in the USA.ĭeregulation in the 1980s, culminating in 'Big Bang' in 1986, also encouraged National Westminster to enter the securities business. A syndicated venture to finance North Sea oil in 1972 led to continuing involvement in energy exploration and major project finance such as the channel tunnel. A wider range of services was introduced including Access, the bank's first credit card, in 1972 and computer-linked Servicetills in 1976.īeyond the domestic market, the newly-created International Banking Division sought to provide international banking services to large companies and to focus on expansion in the USA, the Far East and Europe.
The new bank immediately embarked on a process of branch rationalisation, closing branches where representation was duplicated and opening offices in areas of new commercial and industrial activity as well as in hospitals and universities. The statutory process of integration was completed in 1969 and National Westminster Bank commenced trading on 1 January 1970, adopting the three-arrowheads symbol as its logo. In 1968 National Provincial Bank (including its subsidiary District Bank) and Westminster Bank, two of Britain's 'Big Five' banks, agreed to merge as National Westminster Bank.
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