Royal Bank of Scotland PLC (LON:RBS) should change its name to Natwest or Banky McBanky, according to some of the suggestions on Twitter.
The Times reported that RBS was considering changing its name after suffering reputational damage following its £45.5bn government bailout at the height of the financial crisis in 2008.
Now that the company has improved its financial position and drawn a line under most of its legacy issues, the RBS name is “under review”, chairman Sir Howard Davies told the newspaper.
Davies said the damage to the bank’s image from the bailout and the years of financial struggles that followed had been “very serious”.
READ: Lloyds and RBS back on their feet 10 years after government's bank rescue deal
He added that other core brands owned by RBS, including Natwest, Coutts and Ulster, had “not been that bad at all” even though the parent has “found it difficult to invest in them”.
“They have been remarkably robust and we are now able to devote more investment and management attention to them,” he said.
Twitter suggestions for RBS name change
Twitter users have come forward with a few ideas for new names including The Taxpayers Bank, Royal Bank of Wales and Not Santander.
RBS could change name to repair battered image
My choices:
1. Banky McBanky
2. Royal Bank of Wales
3. Shetland Bank
4. Not Santanderhttps://t.co/LwsMJEcTOd#finserv #banking #in
— Alex Jiménez (@RAlexJimenez) 8 October 2018
RBS to change its name to Royal Bank of Scotfree.
— Mr Ethical (@nw_nicholas) 8 October 2018
Russell Lynch: If RBS needs a new name, how about good old NatWest? https://t.co/nPFtcD05Gb pic.twitter.com/ksQ87w3GeZ
— UK Gazette (@UK_Gazette) 8 October 2018
RBS is considering a name change. Really hope it's like that time HSBC rebranded... as HSBC UK ????https://t.co/2bKYeQ8vdR
— Lynsey Barber (@lynseybarber) 8 October 2018
RBS recovers but repairing image 'will take longer', says CEO
In February, RBS reported its first annual profit in a decade after slashing costs and tackling past misconduct.
In August, RBS declared a dividend for the first time since the financial crisis after resolving the last of its major litigation issues, by agreeing to pay a much smaller-than-expected US$4.9bn fine to settle a US investigation into the sale of mortgage-backed securities between 2005 and 2007.
The government, which took an 84% shareholding in RBS in the 2008 bailout, sold a 7.7% stake in June, marking the first time shares have been sold in the bank since the summer of 2015 when then-Chancellor George Osborne sold the first batch at a loss of about £1bn.
RBS remains more than 62% owned by the government.
Chief executive Ross McEwan said: “The road to recovery has been long, but over the past decade we have achieved one of the biggest corporate turnarounds in history.”
He added: “Rebuilding our reputation will take longer. With our main legacy issues behind us, we are now fully focused on building a much better bank for our customers.”