RBS now a business we can bank on

Goodwin’s hubris is replaced by a company that’s at the forefront of helping us cope with a pandemic

The last time Britain’s economy suffered a collapse anything like that we are experiencing now was in 2008.

Back then it was Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling who were rescuing banks; now it’s Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak rescuing us all. And back then it was RBS who were a significant part of the problem, under the catastrophic command of Fred Goodwin and his pursuit of world domination.

Since then RBS has been paying the price.

Today, after a series of restructures, it is a much smaller bank and it is delivering a profit. It remains in part public ownership.

And in recent weeks it has demonstrated just how much it has changed through its particular response to the coronavirus pandemic.

We exclusively report today how RBS is opening part of its Gogarburn headquarters in Edinburgh to be a distribution centre for foodbanks, in partnership with the Trussell Trust and Social Bite. The government lockdown has made it much harder for foodbanks to operate and RBS is now providing a central hub and human support to keep these organisations going.

The distribution centre will be open 7am-7pm every day with a drive-in donation system for businesses to drop off goods. The Evening News and The Scotsman are part of the effort to make sure people who are struggling for essentials do not have to go without.

This follows the bank’s lead in a number of Covid-19 areas, including deferring mortgage and loan repayments for up to three months and not insisting that business owners give personal guarantees for government interruption loans.

This would never have happened under Goodwin. New chief executive Alison Rose, the first women to lead the bank, has outlined a fresh purpose and focus about the role of the organisation.

Rose wants RBS to not only deliver financial performance but also a positive contribution to society, supporting business and championing potential.

This pandemic was the first test and RBS is delivering.

Under Goodwin, Scots wanted to be proud of a bank that was taking on the world.

Today, we have a real reason to be proud, a company that has a clear purpose to help business and is using its resource and brand to take a lead at a time when we all need to band together.