RBS 2009 Annual Report Download - page 33

31RBS Group Annual Report and Accounts 2009
Divisional review
Global Transaction Services
Did you know?
£236 billion
Our cards businesses
process 6.4 billion transactions
annually worth £236 billion
We took a leading role in developing and implementing the UK’s Faster
Payments arrangements. We were quick to recognise the benefits it
offered customers and made sure that our own implementation allowed
the maximum number of customers to benefit from it immediately from its
launch. We swiftly switched our standing orders to use Faster Payments
instead of the old BACS system. The service is available to our retail
customers through online and telephone banking, as well as in our
branches. Our small and medium-sized enterprise customers can use
it online or by telephone. For GTS customers, we have made Faster
Payments available 24 hours a day and 365 days a year as a standard
element of our Bankline online banking service. This has been very
popular, as it allows customers to maximise the value of both Bankline
and Faster Payments while it can be a convenient alternative or fallback
option for occasional or unplanned use.
We built on our successful 2008 trial of contactless payments in
London with a further trial on Stagecoach buses in Liverpool in 2009
working with Mastercard. This ‘Tap and Go’ trial brought contactless
debit or credit card payments to UK bus users for the first time and it
reinforced our position as a leading innovator in a market which we
believe has high potential.
One of the major tasks we faced during the year was to integrate ABN
AMRO’s wholesale business with RBS. This was a challenge, not least
because we were determined to maintain the best possible service for
our customers and to avoid any disruption for them. We achieved that by
implementing a first class client readiness programme. Six thousand
clients have been notified of BIC/IBAN changes, which as a result will
enable GTS to migrate more than 40,000 corporate accounts. We also
concluded a Partner Bank Agreement between RBS NV and ABN AMRO
II. This means that for the next three years RBS NV will continue to
service the subsidiaries of ABN AMRO II parent companies that bank
with the RBS network outside of the Netherlands.
We received a number of awards in 2009 which reflected both the
quality and the diversity of our businesses in GTS.
We were named the fifth most used international cash manager by
companies in the 2009 Euromoney survey. Our international cash
management offering also won other awards, including these from
Global Finance Magazine:
•Best Bank for Liquidity Management Western Europe; and
•Best Continuous Linked Settlement Bank in Europe.
Our UK domestic cash management business product was recognised in:
•The Banker 2009 Best Innovation in Cash & Technology;
•Best Transaction Banking Achievement at the Banking Technology
Awards; and
•Best Payments Initiative and Most Effective Channel awards
at the Financial Innovation Awards.
Our Top Five ranking in global trade finance was confirmed by a
number of awards:
•Third in Western Europe trade services and second bank globally
for Documentary Processing from the Global Trade Review;
•Best Supply Chain Finance Provider, Western Europe and Best Trade
Finance Bank, Netherlands from Global Finance;
•Third Best Online Trade Provider and Third Best Bank for Export
Finance from Trade & Forfaiting Review;
•Best Deal 2009 for J Sainsbury from Global Trade Review;
•2009 Transaction Banking Deal of the Year for J Sainsbury
(UK – Global) from Trade Finance; and
•2009 Deal of the Year for J Sainsbury from Trade and Forfaiting.
It’s great to win these awards and to receive the recognition of our
peers, but the real test of our service is how our customers react.