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Bloomberg
NatWest Group Plc is bringing together its commercial, securities and international units into a single franchise, hoping to improve relations with customers.
NatWest Markets and RBS International, whose assets are kept separate from the bank’s retail operations under British ring-fencing rules, will become a single unit along with the ring-fenced Commercial arm by July, the London-listed lender said in a statement on Thursday.
Paul Thwaite, currently head of commercial banking, will run the parts of the franchise that are shielded by the ring-fence, while Andrew McLaughlin, current leader of RBS International, will oversee the rest. There are no job losses planned as part of the change.
“Evolving our Commercial and Institutional franchise will help us to build even deeper relationships with our commercial, markets and international banking customers,†NatWest CEO Alison Rose said in a statement.
Robert Begbie will continue as CEO of NatWest Markets and Olly Holbourn, currently director of strategy and ventures, will become CEO of RBS International. The transition will begin in the coming months.
Ring-fencing rules require banks with deposits of 25 billion pounds ($34 billion) or more to protect their retail operations, meaning they can’t use the funds in riskier investment bank and trading arms. The regime has been criticized as “overly rigid†in an ongoing review, which could recommend tweaks to the rules.
The bank also said Thursday that it will refocus its services function on digital, data and technology. Earlier this month the group named Chris Agathangelou as head of a new digital capital markets team as it looks to use blockchain technology to cut costs for clients.
NatWest, which is still majority-owned by the British government after a bailout in the financial crisis, has spent several years shrinking its investment banking operations.