RBS: to be renamed NatWest later this year

(CercleFinance.com) - Royal Bank of Scotland on Friday announced plans to rename its parent company as NatWest later this year.


The move comes as the British bank has set out some "significant ambitions" across its business areas, with the aim of delivering "important benefits" for its customers, it said in a statement.

"We are still too complicated for our customers," said CEO Alison Rose-Slade.

"Much of the potential value in this bank is locked in business lines and business models that are too complex and generating too little return," she added.

RBS said it will now take a "disciplined approach" to costs, targeting an overall cost reduction of 250 million pounds this year.

Despite a "challenging market," the bank has exceeded all of its 2019 financial targets, reporting cost reductions above target.

Its operating profit rose to 4.2 billion pounds last year, from 3.4 billion pounds in 2018.

RBS also said on Friday that it plans to make its own operations CO2-neutral in 2020, and will even be climate positive by 2025.

However, these announcements were met with skepticism by investors, with the RBS share falling over 6% in early morning trading on the London Stock Exchange.

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