'Crisper' Coutts poised to drop RBS brand

Coutts' restructuring has shifted up a gear, with the private  bank poised to drop its Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) branding on Tuesday.

The restructuring has already resulted in three senior Coutts figures being asked to reapply for alternative positions within the group, as a layer of management is effectively done away with at the bank's London division.

From tomorrow, all ties between RBS and Coutts' international business will be severed as Coutts attempts to breathe fresh life into its image, bringing an end to the RBS Coutts franchise its clients outside the UK have come to know since 2008.

In order to unify Coutts' domestic and international arms, the private bank will tomorrow relaunching as Coutts.  The change will draw together all of the private bank's strands into a single global brand and marks the beginning of a push at Coutts to draw in fresh assets.

Shake-up to double client base

Coutts' historic presence in Britain goes back decades, with many knowing the brand as the Queen's dedicated bank. However it is felt that after 319 years operating in the hugely competitive world of private banking that the firm's longstanding brand is in need of rejuvenation across the continent, where it is currently recognised as RBS Coutts.

Coutts hopes the shake-up will help double its business over the coming years and reflect its move away from conventional private banking into more dynamic investment management. 

Michael Morley, the bank's chief executive, believes Coutts' international and UK clients may have been confused by its separate international and home branding and that its new identity will prove a better fit with modern, more globally-minded investors.

Speaking to the Financial Times newspaper Morley went into further detail and added: 'The strong association with RBS is still a very positive factor...The idea is to make it crisper and cleaner,' Morley.