NatWest Markets

The bank's expansion strategy hit trouble with the stock market crash of 1987 and involvement in the financial scandal surrounding the collapse of Blue Arrow. The Department of Trade and Industry report on the affair was critical of the bank's management and resulted in the resignation of several members of the board, including then chairman Lord Boardman.[8]

In the early 1990s, County NatWest merged with NatWest's treasury and foreign exchange divisions to form NatWest Markets. In 1996, NatWest Markets acquired private equity firm Hambro Magan.[9]

In 1997, NatWest Markets revealed that a £50m loss had been discovered; this was revised to £90.5m after further investigations. Investor and shareholder confidence was so badly shaken that the Bank of England had to instruct the board of directors to resist calls for the resignation of its most senior executives in an effort to draw a line under the affair.[10]

The bank's internal controls and risk management were severely criticised in 2000 and its aggressive push into investment banking questioned, after a lengthy investigation by the Securities and Futures Authority.[11] The bank's move into complicated derivative products that it did not fully understand seemed to indicate poor management. By the end of the year parts of NatWest Markets had been sold, others becoming Greenwich NatWest in 1998.[12]

Established in 1981, US broker-dealer, Greenwich Capital Markets was acquired by Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan in 1988 and divested to National Westminster Bank in 1996.[14] From 1998 until 2000, when NatWest was taken over by the RBS Group, it was part of Greenwich NatWest under the joint management of co-chief executives Gary Holloway and Konrad "Chip" Kruger.[15]

Greenwich Capital Markets became RBS Securities (trading as RBS) in 2009, prior to which it had used the marketing name RBS Greenwich Capital.[16] It is a direct subsidiary of RBS Holdings USA (until 2009, known as Greenwich Capital Holdings), whose direct parent is Delaware-registered NatWest Group Holdings Corporation, which was formed in 1996 to facilitate the purchase. Based in Stamford, Connecticut, it specialises in fixed income arbitrage and other fixed income strategies. Renamed NatWest Markets Securities Inc. in 2018, it is Financial Industry Regulatory Authority registered and a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation.

Registered in Hong Kong and regulated and authorised by the Japanese Financial Services Agency, NatWest Markets Securities Japan Limited operates through its Tokyo branch. Previously a direct subsidiary of RBS, it provides credit trading, bonds, swaps and related financial services. In conjunction with RBS Group's acquisition of parts of ABN AMRO Bank (later RBS N.V.), the two firms' Tokyo branches were consolidated in 2009.

The business was established as County Securities Japan in 1986; it became County NatWest Securities Japan in 1987, NatWest Securities Japan in 1995, Greenwich NatWest Securities Japan in 1998 and RBS Securities Japan in 2001, before adopting the present name in 2018.

NatWest Markets N.V. traded as The Royal Bank of Scotland N.V. from the 2007 acquisition of ABN AMRO Bank until 2018. The business has been repurposed to provide continuity of service to EU customers following the UK's withdrawal from the European Union. The redevelopment was led by its current Chief Executive, Harm Bots.

NatWest Markets Asia Securities (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. was founded by ABN AMRO in 1987 and operated as The Royal Bank of Scotland Asia Securities (Singapore) from 2009 until 2018. NatWest Markets N.V. is registered in Amsterdam and regulated and authorised by De Nederlandsche Bank.