RBS 2003 Annual Report Download - page 54

Presentation of information
52
Operating and financial review
In the Report and Accounts, and unless specified otherwise, the
term ÔcompanyÕ means The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc,
ÔRBSÕ or the ÔGroupÕ means the company and its subsidiary
undertakings, Ôthe Royal BankÕ means The Royal Bank of
Scotland plc and ÔNatWestÕ means National Westminster Bank Plc.
The company publishes its financial statements in pounds
sterling (Ò£Ó or ÒsterlingÓ). The abbreviations Ô£mÕ and Ô£bnÕ
represent millions and thousands of millions of pounds sterling,
respectively, and references to ÔpenceÕ represent pence in the
United Kingdom (ÒUKÓ). Reference to ÔdollarsÕ or Ô$Õ are to
United States of America (ÒUSÓ) dollars. The abbreviations Ô$mÕ
and Ô$bnÕ represent millions and thousands of millions of
dollars, respectively, and references to ÔcentsÕ represent cents in
the US. The abbreviation ÔÕ represents the ÔeuroÕ, the
European single currency and the abbreviations ÔmÕ and ÔbnÕ
represent millions and thousands of millions of euros, respectively.
Certain information in this report is presented separately for
domestic and foreign activities. Domestic activities primarily
consist of UK domestic transactions of the Group. Foreign
activities comprise the GroupÕs transactions conducted through
those offices in the UK specifically organised to service
international banking transactions and transactions conducted
through offices outside the UK.
The geographic analysis in the average balance sheet and
interest rates, changes in net interest income and average
interest rates, yields, spreads and margins in this report have
been compiled on the basis of location of office Ð UK and
Overseas. Management believe that presentation on this basis
provides more useful information on the yields, spreads and
margins of the GroupÕs activities than would be provided by
presentation on the basis of the domestic and foreign activities
analysis used elsewhere in this report as it more closely reflects
the basis on which the Group is managed. ÔUKÕ in this context
includes domestic transactions and transactions conducted
through the offices in the UK which service international
banking transactions.
The Group distinguishes its trading from non-trading activities
by determining whether a business unitÕs principal activity is
trading or non-trading and then attributing all of that unitÕs
activities to one portfolio or the other. Although this method may
result in some non-trading activity being classified as trading,
and vice versa, the Group believes that any resulting
misclassification is not material.
In this report, the terms ÔUK GAAPÕ and ÔUS GAAPÕ refer to
generally accepted accounting principles (ÒGAAPÓ) in the UK
and the US respectively.