Royal Bank of Scotland

. Alliance & Leicester has a subsidiary operating in the international market and based on the Isle of Man. It has offices throughout Europe, America and Asia. However, restructuring and the booming UK housing market has powered profit growth. The bank's head office is in St Andrew's Square, Edinburgh. Its small size means it cannot compete with the larger UK banks on a large scale. Its shares have a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange. In the years after floatation, the Alliance & Leicester has not been a star performer in the banking world.

Today it is the largest bank in Scotland, the second largest in the UK and Europe, and the fifth largest in the world by market capitalisation. With other large building societies such as the Halifax and Woolwich, the Alliance & Leicester decided to float the society on the London Stock Exchange, generating windfall payments to members worth up to £5,000 each.
The Royal Bank of Scotland LSE: RBSis one of Scotland's four national clearing banks and one of the oldest in the UK, founded in Edinburgh in 1727 by Royal Charter. Later the society acquired Girobank, a major banking services provider to small businesses from the Post Office. The bank's annual gross profit exceeds the annual budget of the Scottish Government. The former building society was formed by the merger of the Alliance Building Society and the Leicester Building Society in the early 1980s. In June 1997, The Royal Bank of Scotland became the first high street bank in the UK to introduce an Internet banking service. Its main business is in the United Kingdom concentrating on mortgages, current accounts, savings and insurance products.

It was the first bank in the world to offer an overdraft facility. The Group provides general insurance, life assurance, unit trusts, personal current accounts and credit cards, asset financing and commercial lending. It is the only UK bank that still prints a 1 pound note. The four business sectors are: mortgage lending & investments, personal banking, commercial banking and treasury. The Royal Bank of Scotland, along with Clydesdale Bank and Bank of Scotland, still prints its own banknotes for Scotland. Its headquarters are in Carlton Park, a business park in Narborough, south of Leicester in England. WorldPay - specialised in Internet Business. It is listed on the FTSE 100.

Coutts - UK private bank based in London. It was formed in 1997 by the floatation of the former Alliance & Leicester Building Society on the London Stock Exchange. Ulster Bank - Belfast-based bank with branches throughout Ireland. Alliance & Leicester plc is a British bank, formerly a building society. Direct Line - telephone financial services company. bank group based in New England.

Citizens Financial Group - U.S. Adam and Company - UK private bank. NatWest - UK clearing bank, head office in London. Royal Bank of Scotland- Scottish clearing bank, head office in Edinburgh.

2000- acquisition of the National Westminster Bank after hostile takeover battle with the Bank of Scotland. 1997- develops internet banking. 1997- Registrars department acquired by Australian share registry company Computershare. 1988- acquisition of Citizens Financial Group of Rhode Island.

1985- Williams and Glyn's bank name merged with the Royal Bank of Scotland. 1985- established the Direct Line insurance brand. 1980- abortive hostile takeover bid by Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation fails. 1972- merger with National Commercial Bank of Scotland.

1920- acquisition of various small English banks to form Williams Deacons Bank,later combined with Glyn Mills & Co. to form Williams and Glyn's Bank. 1874- first London branch opens. 1783- first branch in Glasgow opens. 1727- founded in Edinburgh by Royal Charter.