RBS Securities history

The bids were referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, which in January 1982 ruled against both of them.

Thomas Boardman replaced Robin Leigh-Pemberton as chairman of NatWest in 1983 when the latter was appointed governor of the Bank of England.

1988: Royal Bank Group acquires Rhode Island-based Citizens Financial Group and enters into an alliance with Banco Santander of Spain.

Lord Alexander, the former head of the British government body overseeing corporate takeovers, became chairman on October 1, 1989.

The inquiry did, however, lead to the resignation of Frost, who stepped down from his chief executive post in March 1992 in order to devote his full attention to the investigation.

There were also some new initiatives, most notably NatWest Life, a venture launched in 1993 to sell life insurance at the bank's branches.

Also, the Royal established a specialist group to finance public sector projects in 1994.

By late 1995, following the acquisition of a number of banks in the region, Citizens had established major presences in Connecticut and Massachusetts in addition to its home state of Rhode Island.

In 1997 Royal Bank entered into joint ventures with food retailer Tesco PLC and Richard Branson's Virgin Group, with both ventures specializing in branded personal finance products.

In April 1999 David Rowland became chairman of NatWest following the retirement of Lord Alexander.

The bank's internal controls and risk management were severely criticised in 2000 and its aggressive push into investment banking questioned, after a lengthy investigation by the Securities and Futures Authority.

It became RBS Securities Inc. in 2009, prior to which time it had traded as RBS Greenwich Capital.