RBS 2009 Annual Report Download - page 26

RBS Group Annual Report and Accounts 2009
24
UK Corporate
Chris Sullivan,
Chief Executive,
UK Corporate
MFor biographies
see pages 8-11
Shortly after he became Chief Executive of
our Corporate Banking Division in August 2009,
Chris Sullivan told a gathering of colleagues,
“The thing we are here to do is to support
business customers to run successful
businesses.”
The recession and the need to rebuild our own business could have
distracted us from that task. But it didn’t. Instead, we knew that as more
start–ups choose RBS over any other bank we had a responsibility to
support our customers in difficult times – and that is exactly what we did.
In October, we launched the Business Hotline. Staffed by a team of
experienced business bankers, from 8am to 8pm five days a week,
Business Hotline offers small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) free
advice and a second opinion in cases where their lending application
has been turned down. Business Hotline is open to all SMEs, not just
RBS or NatWest customers.
At its busiest times, Business Hotline has taken over 100 calls a day.
Although we believe that RBS and NatWest get it right most of the time,
we have changed a number of our decisions not to lend as a result of
calls to Business Hotline and we’ve also been able to lend to companies
who contacted us having been turned down by other banks.
In November, we published our first ever SME Customer Charter. It tells
businesses what they can expect from us and how we will behave. It
reaffirmed our Committed Overdraft Promise, extending it to the end of
2010. That means customers’ committed facilities will remain in place for
at least 12 months. We also promised not to increase overdraft pricing
unless there is a material increase in the risk associated with lending.
Where the risks fall, we will reduce SMEs’ prices.
We offer our customers a combination of a committed overdraft and a
price promise. As a result, nine out of 10 small business customers have
had their overdraft facilities renewed at the same or a lower margin.
We offer two years’ free banking to start-ups and opened more than
100,000 start-up accounts in the nine months to September 2009.
UK Corporate is a leading provider of
banking, finance, and risk management
services to the corporate and SME sector
in the United Kingdom. It offers a full range
of banking products and related financial
services through a nationwide network of
relationship managers, and also through
telephone and internet channels. The product
range includes asset finance through the
Lombard brand.
2009 2008
£m £m
Net interest income 2,292 2,448
Non-interest income 1,290 1,289
Total income 3,582 3,737
Expenses (1,530) (1,637)
Operating profit before impairment losses 2,052 2,100
Impairment losses (927) (319)
Operating profit 1,125 1,781
Risk-weighted assets (£bn) 90.2 85.7
Return on equity 10.3% 18.0%
Net interest margin 2.22% 2.40%
Cost:income ratio 42.7% 43.8%
Loan:deposit ratio 126% 142%
100,000
start-up accounts in the nine months to September
7%
reduction in costs in the year
Target Return on equity (%) Cost:income (%) Loan:deposit (%)
2011 >5 <45 <135
2013 >15 <35 <130