0842 The Royal Bank of Scotland Dundas House in Edinburgh

The Royal Bank of Scotland Dundas House in Edinburgh

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The Royal Bank of Scotland plc(Scittish Gaclic:Banca Rioghail na h-Alba)is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of The Royal Bank of Scotland plc,and together NatWest Bank and Ulster Bank,provides branch banking facilities throughout the British Isles.The Royal Bank of Scotland has around 700 branches,mainly in Scotland though there are branches in many large towns and cities throughout England,and Wales.The Royal Bank of Scotland and its parent.The Royal Bank of Scotland Group,are completely separate from the fellow Edinburgh based bank,the Bank of Scotland,which pre-date 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.

 

History

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Foundation

 

The bank traces its origin to the Society of the Subsribed Equivalent Dept,which set up by investors in failed Company of Scotland to protect the compensation they received as part the arrangements of the 1707 Act of Union.The "Equivalent Society"become the "Equivalent Company"in 1724,and the new company wished to move into baking.The British government received the request favourablely as the "Old Bank",the Bank of Scotland,was suspected of having Jackobite sympathies.Accordingly,the "New Bank"was chartered in 1727 as the as the Royal Bank of Scotland,with Archibald Campbell,Lord Ilay,appointed its first governor.

 

In 1728,the Royal Bank of Scotland became the first bank in the world to offer an overdraft facility.

 

Competition with the Bank of Scotland

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Competition between the Old Banks 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 favourable terms

 

The royal Bank built up larger holding of the Bank of Scotland's note,which it acquired in exchange for its own note,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 relieve the immediate pressure on the Bank of Scotland at the cost of substantial damage to its repuitation,and gave the Royal Bank a clear space to expand its own business-although the Royal Bank's increased note issue also made vulnerable to the same tactics.

 

Despite talk of a merger with the Bank of Scotland,the Royal Bank did not possess the wherewithal to completed the deal.By September 1728,the Bank of Scotland was able to start redeeming its note again,with interst,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 note interest-bearing while delaying payment for six months;the Royal bank followed suit.Both banks eventually decided the the policy they had followed was mutually self-desructive and a truce was arranged,but it still took until 1751 before the two bonks agreed to accept each other note.

 

Scottish Expansion

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The bank opened its first branch office outside Edinburgh in 1783 when it openedone in Glasgow.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 it original head office in Edinburgh's Old Town to Dundas House,on St Andrew Square in the New Town.The building as seen along 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 Palladian mansion,completed in 1774.An axial banking hall (Telling Room)behind the building,designed by John Richard Peddie,was added in 1857;it features a domed roof,painted blue internally,with gold stars-shaped coffers.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 margerd with other Scottish banks,chiefly as response to failing institution.The assets and liabilities of the Western Bank were acquired following its collapsed 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 int England

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The expansion of the British Empire in the latter half of the nineteenth century saw the emergence of London as the largest financial center 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 bank into England; and after a government committee was set up to examine the matter,the Scottish bank chose to drop their expansion plans.An agreement was reached,under which English banks would not open branches in Scotland and Scottish banks world not open branches in England outside of London.This agreement remained in place until the 1960s although various cross-borders acquisition were permitted.

 

The Royal Bank's English expansion plabs 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);latter two were merged in 1970 to form Williams and Glyn Bank,but not rebranded as the Royal Bank of Scotland until 1985.The Royal Bank of Scotland Group unveiled plans to resurrect the Williams and Glyn's band name in preparation for a programme of divestment of its Royal Bank of Scotland retail banking business in England and its NatWest equivalent in Scotland.The Royal Bank subsequently annouced plans to sell there branched to Spanish bank Santander.It is anticpated that Santander will integrate the branches under the Santander brand,rather than Williams and Glyn.

 

Banknotes

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Up until the middle of the 19th century,privately owned banks in Great Britain and Ireland were permitted to their own banknotes,and money issured by provincial Scottish,English Welsh,and Irish banking companies circulated freely as a means of payment.While the bank of England eventually gained a monopoly for issuing banknotes in England banks,and Wales banks,Scottish banks retained the right to issue their own banknotes and continue to do so this day.The Royal Bank of Scotland,along with Clydesdale Bank and Bank of Scotland,still prints it own banknotes.

 

notes issued by Scottish banks circulate widely and may be used as a means of payment throughout Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom;although they do not have the status of legal tender they are accecpted as promissory notes.It should be noted that no paper money is legal tender in Scotland,even that issued by the Bank of England (which is legal tender in England and Wales).

 

The "Ilay" series (1987)

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The current series of Royal Bank of Scotland notes was originally issued in 1987.On the front of each note is a picture of Lord Ilay (1682-1761),the first governor of the bank.The image is based on a portrait of Lord Ilay painted in 1744 by the Edinburgh artist Allan Ramsay.

 

The front of the note also included an engraving of the facade of Sir Laurence Dundas's mansion in St andrew Square,edinburgh,which was built by Sir William Chambers in1774 and later became the bank's headquarters,the bank's coat of arms and the 1969 arrows logo and branding.The background graphics on both sides of the notes is a radial star design which is based on the ornate ceiling of the banking hall in the old headquaters building designed by John Richard Peddie in 1857.

 

On the back of the note are image of scottish castles,with a different castle for each denomination;

 

Current issue in circulation are:

1 pound ($1,53) note featuring Edinburgh Castle

5 pound ($7.69) note featuring Culzean Castle

10 pound ($15.38) note featuring Glamis Castle

20 pound ($30.76) note feature Brodick Castle

50 pound ($76.91) note feature Inverness Castle

100 pound ($153,83) note feature Inverness Castle

 

Commemorative banknotes

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Occasionally the Royal Bank of Scotland issues special commemorative banknotes to mark particular occasions or to celebrate famous people.The Royal Bank was the first British bank to print commemorative banknotes in 1992,and followed with several subsequent special issues.These notes are much sought-after by collectors and they rarely remain long in circulation to date have included.

 

a 1pound ($1.53) note mark the meeting of the Council of the European Union in Holyrood Palace during the United Kingdom's Presidency of the Council of the European Union (1992)

1 pound ($1.53) note to mark the 100th Anniversary of the death of Robert Louis Stevenson (1994)

1 pound ($1.53) note to marke the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Alexander Graham Bell (1997)

1 pound ($1.53) note to mark the opening of the Scottish Paraliament,depiction the General Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland,the temporary home of the parliament,and a diagram of the floorplan of the new parliament building,designed by Enric Miralles (1999)

 

Branding

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The Royal Bank of Scotland Group used branding developed for the bank on its merger with the National Commercial Bank of Scotland in 1969.The Group's logo takes the form of an abstract symbol of four inward-pointed arrows known as the "Daisy Wheel" and is based on an arrangement of 36 piles of coins in a 6 by 6 square,reprenting the accumulation and concentration of wealth by the Group.The Daisy Wheel logo was later adopted by Royal Bank of Scotland subsidiaries worldpay,Ulster Bank in Ireland and Citizens Financial Group in the united States.

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