From a little-known regional commercial bank to a world-famous commercial bank in just over four years, Royal Bank of Scotland does have some big ideas. Royal Bank of Scotland, founded in 1727, is one of the oldest commercial banks in Britain. Through its own continuous development and acquisition, Royal Bank of Scotland has become the largest bank in Scotland by 1969, with 700 branches and 40% local market share. However, before 2000, the bank was still a regional commercial bank. In February 2000, Royal Bank of Scotland successfully acquired the National Westminster Bank, which is three times larger than its own capital, making Royal Bank of Scotland a key step to become a world-famous commercial bank. As the amount involved in this acquisition reached 2 1 100 million pounds, it set a record for the highest amount of banking acquisition in British history. From this successful acquisition case, we can also see the courage, wisdom, creativity and execution of Royal Bank of Scotland.
In fact, it was not Royal Bank of Scotland that first proposed to buy National Westminster Bank, but another regional bank in Scotland-Bank of Scotland. The common feature of Bank of Scotland and Royal Bank of Scotland is that their capital scale is small, but their operation and management are good, and their fee-to-income ratio is particularly low. During the five years from 1993 to 1998, the fee income rate of Royal Bank of Scotland decreased from 56% to 52%, the Bank of Scotland remained at 48%, and the National Westminster Bank increased from 66% to 68%. Therefore, both banks believe that the acquisition of National Westminster Bank will broaden the space for the further development of their respective banks.
At first, the two banks were prepared to jointly acquire the National Westminster Bank, but Royal Bank of Scotland decided to acquire the National Westminster Bank separately because there was no consensus on the acquisition process and management after the successful acquisition.
After making this bold decision, Royal Bank of Scotland put forward a set of acquisition plan with clear development strategy and feasible operation details through top-down overall benefit analysis, bottom-up sub-business line profit test and manager ability analysis. Because the acquisition plan is well prepared and feasible in detail, Royal Bank of Scotland not only won the bid for the acquisition of National Westminster Bank in one fell swoop, but also after the successful acquisition, various measures in the acquisition plan (such as staffing, division of responsibilities, internal risk control, reporting system, performance appraisal, etc.). ) was put in place quickly and was well implemented. After the acquisition of Royal Bank of Scotland, the actual cost reduction and income increase far exceeded the expectations before the acquisition. After the Royal Bank of Scotland acquired the National Westminster Bank, it implemented a unified brand strategy in the business of service companies and institutional customers such as companies and financial markets, that is, the corporate and institutional business of the former National Westminster Bank will be unified with the brand of the Royal Bank of Scotland; In the retail business, in order to reduce the impact on the original individual customers of National Westminster Bank, under the premise of realizing the unification of retail products, finance and risk management, the multi-brand strategy is implemented, that is, the brand of the original retail business of National Westminster Bank is retained, and a unique multi-brand retail business structure is formed.
Royal Bank of Scotland has developed from a regional bank with a history of nearly 300 years to the fifth largest international commercial bank in the world, and there is no secret weapon. They just try to put all the well-known tricks into practice. One of the important reasons why Royal Bank of Scotland can maintain its vigorous vitality is that it constantly carries out financial innovation, constantly adjusts its business scope according to changes in the real economy, and constantly increases financial products that can meet customers' needs.
It can be seen from the development history of Royal Bank of Scotland that although it is a century-old shop, its ideas and ideas are not conservative. It can not only adapt to the changes of the times in time, but also become a market leader. 1969, Royal Bank of Scotland merged with Commercial Bank of Scotland to become the largest commercial bank in Scotland. From 65438 to 0980, auto insurance company, telephone bank and online bank were established successively, making Royal Bank of Scotland one of the most dynamic banks in Britain. During the period of 1990, the centralized processing project of back-office business was implemented, which not only reduced the operating cost of the bank, but also improved its profitability and market competitiveness. In 2000, through the acquisition of National Westminster Bank, which is three times bigger than itself, it became one of the most respected commercial banks in the world.