What We Do

We have been through an exceptionally difficult period for the global economy and the bank. The crisis in global financial markets and deteriorating economic conditions across the world has weakened many financial services organisations. This situation was made worse for us, as some of our major strategic decisions were subsequently shown to be bad mistakes, making us more vulnerable than we would have been otherwise.

We have identified what went wrong, acted to fix the immediate problems and have set in place a sweeping restructuring and new strategic plan to regain standalone strength. This is the top priority of our new management team and Board.

We are in a privileged position to have the support of the UK taxpayer while we restructure. That privilege exists because of our central role in the UK economy and society. That role brings responsibilities for us to change both the business we do and the way we do business; which we are already doing.

Our strategic plans will take three to five years to achieve, given the scale of the task and the economic conditions we face. However, we expect to make purposeful progress each and every year. We have already begun a programme of reducing our costs and aligning the Bank's activities to the reality of our situation.

Our disappointing performance in 2008 masked resilient underlying performance, and profitability, in all but one of our businesses. It will be these core businesses, across the world, but anchored in the UK, which will be the focus for us as we strive to rebuild shareholder value.

Throughout the restructuring process we will remain firmly focused on the needs of our customers. We know that providing these individuals and businesses with the highest standards of service and a commitment to do what it takes to make it happen for them, is the best way to retain their trust and loyalty.

Our aspiration:

We should again become one of the world's premier financial institutions, anchored in the UK but serving institutional customers here and globally, and doing it well.

We will achieve this by:

• Focusing our activities on serving enduring customer franchises, with top tier competitive positions where we choose to compete.
• Targeting 15%+ return on equity in our business.
• Achieving primarily organic growth at rates consistent with the markets in which our businesses operate.
• Using proportionately our balance sheet, funding and risk.
• Having businesses that reinforce each other with shared products, customers and expertise.

Our approach will entail:

• A purposeful management style.
• "Making it happen" for our customers and then for our shareholders.
• A strategic understanding of our businesses and a focus on long-term quality profitability.
• A business mix more biased than before to stable customer businesses.
• Aiming to rely less on volatile, unsecured wholesale funding.

Strategic Plan:

We have embarked on a sweeping restructuring of the Group. Initial details of this plan can be found here.

Key facts

• The Group has over 40 million customers worldwide, over half of which (25 million) are in the UK.
• Up to 1 million small businesses will benefit from the Bank's unique overdraft commitments on price and availability made in 2008.
• We were founded in 1727 - meaning we have over 280 years of financial services experience. Find out more
• We own more than 40 well known consumer brands including RBS, NatWest, Direct Line, Churchill, Coutts, Ulster Bank and Citizens. Find out more
• We have more locally based business banking Relationship Managers than any other bank in the UK. RBS has extensive geographical reach across Britain through our network of 3,800 relationship managers based at our 2,278 branches and 118 business centres.
• We continue to support the communities in which we operate around the world. Find out more
• RBS retained a top position in 2008 and NatWest was again joint second for customer satisfaction amongst main high street banks. Find out more
• Citizens was ranked the tenth-largest commercial banking organisation in the US based on deposits as at 30 September 2008 and is a top tier bank in its New England and Mid Atlantic regional markets. Find out more
• RBS continues to provide support to marginal businesses. Since its launch, roughly 1,000 customers a month have opened our basic business bank account helping the neediest businesses get off the ground.
• RBS last year increased the time customers are given to catch up on their mortgage repayments if they fall behind to 6 months - double the government's recommended 3 months.
• MoneySense advisers are in 1,000 of our branches, helping people to manage their money better. Consultations with these advisers have had a variety of impacts - for example, some customers have been able to reduce their monthly home insurance payments, while others even have avoided having to sell their homes.
• The Group's 20 mobile banks made 25,000 stops last year, serving around 100,000 customers in 350 remote communities across the UK. It is the largest network of its kind in the country.
• 100% of our contracted electricity in the UK and Ireland is purchased from renewable sources. Find out more

Find out more about our customer approach