RBS 2005 Annual Report Download - page 37

2005
Divisional review
35
 Kroger Personal Finance, a joint venture
between Citizens’ cards division and Kroger Co.,
the second largest supermarket chain in the US,
is offering KPF credit cards in nearly 2,200 stores
and is branching out into other products.
We launched seven different branded card
programmes in 2005 for Kroger customers,
launched a MasterCard-branded gift card and
started installing RBS Lynk-supported ATMs into
a number of Kroger locations.
 Citizens was the No.1 US Small Business
Administration (SBA) lender in the Mid-Atlantic,
Midwest and New England regions in 2005, and
the No.2 lender in the US for the fourth consecutive
year. We made over 10,000 SBA-backed loans,
totalling more than US$416 million, which
represented a 79% increase in volume over 2004.
 In its first year of Citizens ownership,
Charter One’s new Business Banking team grew
its SBA lending to No.1 in the Midwest in both the
number of loans written and total dollars loaned
during 2005. Charter One became top SBA lender
in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.
 Also in Ohio, Charter One is sponsoring
the new Charter One Global Enterprise Center in
Cleveland to fuel economic growth by maximising
northeast Ohio’s international business
development potential.
 In addition to lending at the community
banking, middle market and large corporate
levels, Citizens Corporate Banking services has
worked effectively in partnership with RBS
Corporate Markets. This provides additional expertise
and flexibility to meet the needs of larger customers
and craft complex financings. Services include
interest rate protection, foreign exchange, cash
management, asset finance and administration,
asset-based lending and private equity capital.
 The management and business of RBS
Asset Finance, Inc. has been transferred from
RBS Corporate Markets to Citizens. This integration
combined the existing Citizens asset finance
company, Citizens Leasing, with Charter One’s
ICX Corporation and the group formerly known
as RBS Lombard to form RBS Asset Finance.
The combined company is the eighth largest bank-
affiliated leasing company in the US.
 During 2005, RBS transferred to Citizens
the operating control of the electronic processing
provider RBS Lynk. RBS Lynk began cross-selling
merchant services to small business customers
through Citizens and Charter One branches and
their business bankers.
 In late 2004, Citizens established new
International Cash Management services with
Corporate Markets for companies doing business
in the US and the EU, resulting in nearly 300 new
customer accounts at Citizens during 2005 for
existing RBS customers. These customers use an
extensive array of cash management services, and
have brought in more than US$80 million of new
core deposits.
 Since it began in 2004, Citizens’ Job Bank
offered US$144 million in loan funds at below-
market rates to 11 companies that agreed to create
an estimated 4,536 jobs. Citizens’ Housing Bank
offered US$167 million in low-interest loan funds to
non-profit housing developers to create 2,286
affordable housing units in New England and Ohio.
Both programmes will be extended in 2006.