; 48 years ago 1968 headquarters 135 bishopsgate london ec2m 3ur key people sir howard davies chairman ross mcewan chief executive products banking and insurance number of employees 33 300 parent royal bank of scotland group website www.natwest.com national westminster bank commonly known as natwest is a large retail and commercial bank in the united kingdom . it was established in 1968 by the merger of national provincial bank established 1833 as national provincial bank of england and westminster bank established 1834 as london county and westminster bank . since 2000 it has been part of the royal bank of scotland group . traditionally considered one of the big four clearing banks it has a large network of 1 400 branches and 3 400 cash machines across great britain and offers 24 hour actionline telephone and online banking services . today it has more than 7.5 million personal customers and 850 000 small business accounts . in ireland it operates through its ulster bank subsidiary . natwest was named a runner up for the best business banking provider category at the british bank awards 2016 . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 expansion 1.2 controversy 1.3 takeover 2 divestment 3 structure 4 services 5 litigation 6 computer failures 7 sponsorship 8 see also 9 references 10 external links history edit for more details on this topic see national provincial bank westminster bank and district bank . the natwest branch at leighton buzzard bedfordshire an example of neo renaissance architecture . the bank s origins date back to 1658 with the foundation of smith s bank of nottingham . 2 the creation of the modern bank was announced in 1968 and national westminster bank limited commenced trading on 1 january 1970 after the statutory process of integration had been completed in 1969 . 3 the famous three cubes symbol was adopted as the new bank s logo ; it symbolises the bank s three constituents national provincial bank westminster bank and district bank established 1829 4 the latter had been taken over by national provincial bank in 1962 and was allowed to operate under its own name until the formation of national westminster bank . the district national provincial and westminster banks were fully integrated in the new firm s structure but coutts & co. private bankers a 1920 national provincial acquisition established 1692 ulster bank in northern ireland a 1917 westminster acquisition established 1836 and the isle of man bank a 1961 national provincial acquisition established 1865 continued as separate operations . westminster foreign bank established 1913 was restyled international westminster bank in 1973 . duncan stirling outgoing chairman of westminster bank became first chairman of the fifth largest bank in the world . 5 in 1969 david robarts former chairman of national provincial assumed stirling s position . 6 in 1975 it was one of the first london banks to open a representative office in scotland . it was a founder member of the joint credit card company with lloyds bank midland bank and williams & glyn s bank which launched the access credit card now part of mastercard in 1972 and in 1976 it introduced the servicetill cash machine . the same banks excluding lloyds were later responsible for the introduction of the switch debit card later branded maestro in 1988 . 7 expansion edit the former natwest tower from the junction of bishopsgate with leadenhall street in the city of london . deregulation in the 1980s culminating in the big bang in 1986 also encouraged the bank to enter the securities business . county bank its merchant banking subsidiary formed in 1965 acquired various stockbroking and jobbing firms to create the investment banking arm county natwest . national westminster home loans was established in 1980 and other initiatives included the launch of the piggy account for children in 1983 the credit zone a flexible overdraft facility on which customers only pay interest now commonplace this so called pink debt was innovative when launched and the development of the mondex electronic purse later sold to mastercard worldwide in 1990 . 8 the action bank advertising campaign spearheaded a new marketing led approach to business development . under the direction of robin leigh pemberton later lord kingsdown who became chairman in 1977 the bank also expanded internationally forming national westminster bancorp in the united states of america with a network of 340 branches across two states national westminster bank of canada and natwest australia bank ; and opening branches on the european continent and in the far east . 9 in 1982 the frankfurt office of international westminster bank merged with global bank ag to form deutsche westminster bank . in 1985 banco natwest espa a was formed and national westminster bank sa was incorporated in 1988 taking over the bank s six branches in france and monaco . in 1989 international westminster bank was merged into national westminster bank by act of parliament . completed in 1980 the bank built the national westminster tower now known as tower 42 in london to serve as its international headquarters . at a height of 600 feet 183 m it was the tallest building in the uk until the topping out of canary wharf tower 10 years later ; 10 its footprint loosely approximating the bank s logo when viewed from the air 11 although the architect claimed the similarity was coincidence . 12 also worthy of note is national westminster house now known as 103 colmore row in birmingham the building was sold to british land in 2007 13 and demolished in 2015 . controversy edit the bank s expansion strategy hit trouble with the stock market crash of 1987 and involvement in the financial scandal surrounding the collapse of blue arrow . the department of trade and industry report on the affair was critical of the bank s management and resulted in the resignation of several members of the board including then chairman lord boardman . 14 later the bank would divest its overseas subsidiaries . the north american operations were sold to fleet bank and hong kong bank of canada and the australian and new zealand branches were sold to salomon smith barney and the national australia bank . 15 thereafter the bank concentrated on its core domestic business as the restyled natwest group reflecting its modern positioning as a portfolio of businesses . 16 in 1993 the natwest tower was devastated by a provisional ira bomb and the bank vacated the building and later sold it . 17 then in 1997 natwest markets the corporate and investment banking arm formed in 1992 revealed that a 50m loss had been discovered revised to 90.5 m after further investigations . investor and shareholder confidence was so badly shaken that the bank of england had to instruct the board of directors to resist calls for the resignation of its most senior executives in an effort to draw a line under the affair . 18 the bank s internal controls and risk management were severely criticised in 2000 and its aggressive push into investment banking questioned after a lengthy investigation by the securities and futures authority . 19 the bank s move into complicated derivative products that it did not fully understand seemed to indicate poor management . by the end of 1997 parts of natwest markets had been sold others becoming greenwich natwest in 1998 . 20 takeover edit the old town hall at ealing london built by charles jones in 1872 now a natwest branch . 21 in 1999 the chairman lord alexander of weedon announced a merger with legal & general in a friendly 10.7 billion deal the first between a bank and an insurance company in uk history . 22 the move was poorly received in the london financial markets and natwest s share price fell substantially . 23 seen as a driver of the ill advised investment banking expansion derek wanless was forced to resign as chief executive following the appointment of sir david rowland who became executive chairman . 24 also in 1999 in response to the much reduced natwest market capitalisation the much smaller bank of scotland made a hostile takeover bid for natwest . the bank of scotland s aim was to break up the natwest group and dispose of its non retail assets . natwest was forced to abandon its merger but refused to agree to a takeover by a rival bank . 25 the royal bank of scotland tabled another hostile offer and trumped the bank of scotland with a 21 billion bid . 26 the takeover of natwest in early 2000 was the biggest in uk history . national westminster bank once britain s most profitable bank was delisted from the london stock exchange and became with its subsidiaries component parts of the royal bank of scotland group . 27 the outcome of this bitter struggle set the tone for a round of consolidation in the financial sector as it prepared for a new age of fierce global competition . 28 the royal bank of scotland group became the second largest bank in the uk and europe after hsbc and the fifth largest in the world by market capitalisation . according to forbes global 2000 it was then the 13th largest company in the world . 29 natwest was retained as a distinct brand with its own banking licence but many back office functions were merged with those of the royal bank leading to over 18 000 job losses . divestment edit for more details on this topic see williams & glyn . in 2008 it was announced that hm government would take a stake of up to 58 % in the royal bank of scotland in a move aimed at recapitalising the group . hm treasury subscribed for 5 billion in preference shares and underwrote the issuance of 15bn of new ordinary shares offered to rbs shareholders and new institutional shareholders at the fixed price of 65.5 p. 30 as a consequence of the mismanagement which necessitated this rescue the chief executive fred goodwin who secured the takeover of natwest offered his resignation which was duly accepted . chairman sir tom mckillop also confirmed he would stand down from that role when his contract expired in 2009 . goodwin was replaced by stephen hester previously chief executive of british land . in 2009 the rbs group announced that it would divest all 311 rbs branches in england and wales until 1985 williams and glyn s together with the seven natwest branches in scotland as a standalone business to comply with european commission state aid requirements . 31 32 in august 2010 it was announced that the branches would be sold to santander uk along with the accounts of 1.8 million personal customers and 244 000 sme customers . 33 santander withdrew from the sale in october 2012 . 34 on 27 september 2013 the rbs group confirmed it had agreed to sell 308 rbs branches in england and wales and 6 natwest branches in scotland to the corsair consortium . this figure was reduced to 307 by may 2015 . 35 the branches will be separated from the group in 2016 as a standalone business operating under the previously dormant williams & glyn s brand . 36 structure edit the old court house at ruthin denbighshire built in 1401 now a natwest branch . 37 the royal bank of scotland group plc operates internationally through its two principal subsidiaries the royal bank in scotland and natwest in england and wales . 38 the natwest group of companies comprises national westminster bank and its subsidiary and associated undertakings . 39 as of 2013 update the principal subsidiary undertakings of natwest are coutts & co. part of rbs group wealth management incorporating coutts & co. ltd. formerly coutts bank von ernst ltd. and from 2008 to 2011 rbs coutts bank ltd. trading as rbs coutts international zurich ; 40 rbs securities inc.