The Royal Bank of Scotland Group ('RBS') has formally rebranded ABN Amro Bank branches in Pakistan. Pakistan is among the first Asian markets to be re-branded to RBS.
Effective August 1, as approved by local regulators, ABN Amro Bank (Pakistan) Limited is now officially renamed as The Royal Bank of Scotland Limited. This follows the successful global acquisition of ABN Amro in October 2007 by the RBS-led Consortium.
"Today marks an important milestone for the integration of RBS and ABN Amro's businesses and we are thrilled that Pakistan is one of the very first countries to reach this milestone in Asia Pacific," said John McCormick, Chief Executive, Global Banking & Markets for Asia Pacific, RBS. "Our global expertise as a group combined with the local capabilities will further strengthen our position in Pakistan allowing us to meet clients' needs through innovative and integrated solutions and accelerate our growth plans for the region," he said.
To mark this new chapter, RBS will also launch two new retail banking products--Royal Preferred Banking (previously known as Van Gogh Preferred Banking), and RBS Islamic Banking (previously known as ABN Amro Islamic Banking) in Pakistan, making it the first Asian market to be introduced with these products.
Shehzad Naqvi, RBS's Chief Executive Officer in Pakistan, said, "We are very excited and proud to be part of the RBS Group. RBS has entered Pakistan with a headstart as one of the largest foreign banks in Pakistan enjoying 60 years of heritage and total assets of Rs 117 billion across a network base of 79 branches spanning 24 cities.
The combined strengths of RBS and ABN Amro will offer local clients more sophisticated products and services with global accessibility and world class efficiency". Today, RBS is the second largest financial services group by profit. With an 'AA-' credit rating, RBS group has assets of GBP 1,900.5 billion as of 31 December 2007.-PR