is about the retail bank . for its holding company see royal bank of scotland group . not to be confused with bank of scotland . the royal bank of scotland banca r oghail na h alba banc brenhinol yr alban type subsidiary industry finance and insurance founded 1727 ; 289 years ago 1727 headquarters edinburgh scotland key people ross mcewan ceo products finance and insurance consumer banking corporate banking number of employees 92 400 parent royal bank of scotland group website www.rbs.co.uk footnotes references 1 wholly owned subsidiary of royal bank of scotland group plc. 2 royal bank of scotland group total . the royal bank of scotland scottish gaelic banca r oghail na h alba scots ryal baunk o scotland welsh banc brenhinol yr alban 1 commonly abbreviated as rbs is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of the royal bank of scotland group plc together with natwest and ulster bank . the royal bank of scotland has around 700 branches mainly in scotland though there are branches in many larger towns and cities throughout england and wales . both the bank and its parent the royal bank of scotland group are completely separate from the fellow edinburgh based bank the bank of scotland which pre dates the royal bank of scotland by 32 years . the bank of scotland was effective in raising funds for the jacobite rebellion and as a result the royal bank of scotland was established to provide a bank with strong hanoverian and whig ties . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 foundation 1.2 competition with the bank of scotland 1.3 scottish expansion 1.4 expansion into england 1.5 recent history 2 divestment 3 banknotes 3.1 the ilay series 1987 3.2 commemorative banknotes 3.3 forthcoming series 2016 4 services 5 branding 6 controversies 6.1 fossil fuel financing 6.2 branch closures 6.3 allegations of asset stripping small business customers 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit foundation edit dundas house designed by sir william chambers built in 1774 for sir lawrence dundas and acquired by the bank in 1821 . 3 the bank traces its origin to the society of the subscribed equivalent debt which was set up by investors in the failed company of scotland to protect the compensation they received as part of the arrangements of the 1707 acts of union . the equivalent society became the equivalent company in 1724 and the new company wished to move into banking . the british government received the request favourably as the old bank the bank of scotland was suspected of having jacobite sympathies . accordingly the new bank was chartered in 1727 as the royal bank of scotland with archibald campbell lord ilay appointed its first governor . on 31 may 1728 the royal bank of scotland invented the overdraft which was later considered an innovation in modern banking . 4 it allowed william hogg a merchant in the high street of edinburgh access to 1 000 121 973 in today s value 5 credit . competition with the bank of scotland edit competition between the old and new banks was fierce and centred on the issue of banknotes . the policy of the royal bank was to either drive the bank of scotland out of business or take it over on favourable terms . the royal bank built up large holdings of the bank of scotland s notes which it acquired in exchange for its own notes then suddenly presented to the bank of scotland for payment . to pay these notes the bank of scotland was forced to call in its loans and in march 1728 to suspend payments . the suspension relieved the immediate pressure on the bank of scotland at the cost of substantial damage to its reputation and gave the royal bank a clear space to expand its own business although the royal bank s increased note issue also made it more vulnerable to the same tactics . despite talk of a merger with the bank of scotland the royal bank did not possess the wherewithal to complete the deal . by september 1728 the bank of scotland was able to start redeeming its notes again with interest and in march 1729 it resumed lending . to prevent similar attacks in the future the bank of scotland put an option clause on its notes giving it the right to make the notes interest bearing while delaying payment for six months ; the royal bank followed suit . both banks eventually decided that the policy they had followed was mutually self destructive and a truce was arranged but it still took until 1751 before the two banks agreed to accept each other s notes . scottish expansion edit the bank opened its first branch office outside edinburgh in 1783 when it opened one in glasgow in part of a draper s shop in the high street . 6 further branches were opened in dundee rothesay dalkeith greenock port glasgow and leith in the first part of the nineteenth century . in 1821 the bank moved from its original head office in edinburgh s old town to dundas house on st. andrew square in the new town . the building as seen along george street forms the eastern end of the central vista in new town . it was designed for sir lawrence dundas by sir william chambers as a palladian mansion completed in 1774 . an axial banking hall telling room behind the building designed by john dick peddie was added in 1857 ; it features a domed roof painted blue internally with gold star shaped coffers . 3 the banking hall continues in use as a branch of the bank and dundas house remains the registered head office of the bank to this day . the rest of the nineteenth century saw the bank pursue mergers with other scottish banks chiefly as a response to failing institutions . the assets and liabilities of the western bank were acquired following its collapse in 1857 ; the dundee banking company was acquired in 1864 . by 1910 the royal bank of scotland had 158 branches and around 900 staff . in 1969 the bank merged with the national commercial bank of scotland to become the largest clearing bank in scotland . expansion into england edit branch of the royal bank of scotland in islington london . the expansion of the british empire in the latter half of the nineteenth century saw the emergence of london as the largest financial centre in the world attracting scottish banks to expand southward into england . the first london branch of the royal bank of scotland opened in 1874 . however english banks moved to prevent further expansion by scottish banks into england ; and after a government committee was set up to examine the matter the scottish banks chose to drop their expansion plans . an agreement was reached under which english banks would not open branches in scotland and scottish banks would not open branches in england outside london . this agreement remained in place until the 1960s although various cross border acquisitions were permitted . the royal bank s english expansion plans were resurrected after world war i when it acquired various small english banks including london based drummonds bank in 1924 ; williams deacon s bank based in northwestern england in 1930 ; and glyn mills & co. in 1939 ; the latter two were merged in 1970 to form williams and glyn s bank but not rebranded as the royal bank of scotland until 1985 . recent history edit main article royal bank of scotland group history a van of the rbs mobile banking service on 20 january 2011 royal bank of scotland were fined 28.58 million for anti competitive practices that were enacted with barclays in relation to the pricing of loan products for large professional services firms . 7 also in 2011 royal bank of scotland prevented basic account holders from using the atms of most rival banks although they could still use those of natwest tesco morrisons and the post office . 8 in june 2012 computer problems prevented customers accessing accounts . 9 royal bank of scotland released a statement on 12 june 2013 that announced a transition in which ceo stephen hester would stand down in december 2013 for the financial institution to return to private ownership by the end of 2014 . for his part in the procession of the transition hester received 12 months pay and benefits worth 1.6 million as well as the potential for 4 million in shares . the royal bank of scotland stated that as of the announcement the search for hester s successor would commence . 10 hester was replaced as ceo by new zealander ross mcewan formerly the head of the bank s retail arm on 1 october 2013 . 11 mcewan who was 56 years old at the start of his tenure will receive no bonus for his work in 2013 or at the end of 2014 and his pension will be replaced by an annual cash sum equivalent to 35 per cent of his salary as ceo . 12 in november 2013 royal bank of scotland announced it was in talks to sell a shipping loan in eagle bulk shipping worth 800 million . 13 it was also announced in that month that the bank was in talks to sell its equity derivatives business to a buyer rumoured to be bnp paribas . 14 in september 2014 royal bank of scotland announced that they would move their headquarters to london in the event of a yes vote in the scottish referendum . 15 whilst this move wouldn t affect day to day banking services in scotland there would be several major ramifications ; the key issue being that the scottish version of royal bank of scotland would become a subsidiary to the london based holding company and therefore tax would be paid chiefly through the london based company thus depriving scotland of significant revenues . this would break a near 300 year period in which the royal bank of scotland has been headquartered in edinburgh . in march 2015 royal bank of scotland agreed to sell its internationally managed private banking and wealth management business to switzerland s union bancaire priv e ubp sa . the sale includes client relationships managed under coutts and adam & co. brands in switzerland monaco uae qatar singapore and hong kong . terms of the sale were not announced . the operations being sold has chf 32 billion of client assets under management . royal bank of scotland will continue to offer private banking and wealth management in the british isles as well as to international clients with a strong connection to the uk . 16 divestment edit main article williams & glyn as a consequence of the british government taking an 81 % shareholding in the rbs group following the 2007 08 financial crisis the group was required by a european commission ruling to sell a portion of its business as the commission regarded the shareholding as state aid . royal bank of scotland unveiled plans in 2009 to resurrect the dormant williams and glyn s brand name in preparation for the divestment of its royal bank of scotland branded retail banking business in england and its natwest branches in scotland . 17 on 27 september 2013 the royal bank of scotland group confirmed it had agreed to sell 308 royal bank of scotland branches in england and wales and 6 natwest branches in scotland to the corsair consortium . the branches were due to be divested from the group in 2016 as a standalone business operating under the williams & glyn name 18 although in august 2016 rbs cancelled the spin off plan stating that the new bank could not survive independently . it revealed it would instead seek to sell the division to another