Natwest: One of the Top UK Financial Institutions

NatWest (National Westminster Bank Plc) is a commercial bank in Britain, which is a member of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (also referred to as the Group). Since its establishment in 1968, from the merging of the National Provincial Bank (est. 1833) and Westminster Bank (est. 1836), NatWest has provided top-notch banking services for its clients.

The announcement of the merger of the two financial institutions surprised the public. The merging enhanced the balance sheet’s strength and created opportunities to make the branch networks more efficient. At present, NatWest has 3,600 branches. The bank offers a wide range of insurance and banking services to commercial, personal and business customers. The services include the Access (bank’s first credit card) in 1972, Servicetills (Automated Teller Machine) in 1976, Deregulation in 1980, and ‘Big Bang’ that encouraged NatWest to enter the security business in 1986. The bank also acquired jobbing firms and stockbroking through the County Bank, the merchant bank of the Group. Furthermore, the 1980s marked various developments in the company, such as touch screen commerce and telephone banking. It assisted the privatisation programme of the government. It also established the National Westminster Home Loans (1980), the Small Business Unit (1982), and the Switch debit card (1988). During the massive change in the worldwide financial service markets in the ’90s, the company, in response, refocused its activities.

The company has undergone several changes regarding its services in the past few years, and it remains at present, a reliable banking firm.