Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC to rebrand as Natwest Group PLC next Wednesday

Group PLC () has explained it will officially rebrand by itself as Natwest Group PLC from July 22, retaining the RBS brand name at its Scottish branches but working as NatWest in its other marketplaces.

The banking giant, which also owns the Queen’s financial institution Coutts and is element-owned by the British isles taxpayer, explained it will make a subsequent announcement when the identify modify usually takes result, while its ticker on the LSE will also modify.

Study: RBS extends incentivised switching scheme deadline for businesses

RBS explained the identify modify programs type element of a tactic to align its group identify “with the brand name below which the the vast majority of our business is delivered”, as about eighty% of the company’s client base originates from its Natwest division.

However, the identify modify might also be a move by the financial institution to finally attract a line below the lingering toxicity of its RBS identify, which has ongoing to pervade because the 2008 money crisis amid a litany of scandals over payment security insurance plan (PPI), price correcting and the behaviour of its World-wide Restructuring Group (GRG) business unit.

A report posted by the Fiscal Conduct Authority (FCA) final yr located that GRG had mistreated little and medium sized businesses (SMEs) which were being transferred to its manage soon after the crash, with an impartial review also uncovering evidence of programs to drain businesses of dollars in buy to receive property and fairness and improve bonuses for certain workers.

Rebrands: the good, the undesirable and the unattractive

RBS’s imminent rebrand also is the most up-to-date chapter in the chequered history of major corporate rebrands.

Maybe just one of the much more popular illustrations of a rebrand long gone wrong was the 2001 identify modify of Royal Mail Group PLC () to ‘Consignia’, element of a tactic by then chief govt John Roberts to increase the scope of the business and endeavor to drive into worldwide marketplaces.

The £2mln rebrand became an quick laughing inventory and lasted about sixteen months just before it was canned, with Roberts himself getting consigned to the list of former CEOs of the organization soon soon after.

Though Royal Mail’s small-lived rebrand was element of an work to look to the long run of the business, the rebrand of Arthur Anderson’s consulting arm to in 2001 was, a great deal like RBS, a bid to reduce the firm off from its harmful earlier.

After just one of the most widely respected accountancy corporations, Arthur Anderson’s status was remaining in tatters next its function in the individual bankruptcy of US energy giant Enron, which was located to have used questionable accounting procedures to disguise financial debt off its stability sheet which had been signed off by Anderson’s accountants.

However, some corporate rebrands have much more mundane objectives in intellect, these as the 2015 rebrand of look for engine giant Google to ().

The tech organization shaped Alphabet as a guardian to the core look for engine business, which continues to be its premier asset, while also allowing it to scale the administration of its other business arms, lots of of which consist of investigation & enhancement corporations building technological innovation relevant to self-driving cars and other so-termed ‘moon-shot’ projects.

Shares in RBS were being .four% lessen at 121p in mid-afternoon investing on Thursday.