RBS was founded in 1727 and is one of the major UK banks. RBS has 40 million customers using the financial services of over 30 brands, including NatWest, Direct Line, Churchill, Coutts, Ulster Bank and Citizens. After a massive bailout in 2008, RBS is now a UK government owned institution.
ownership
listed on London Stock Exchange
RBS has been effectively nationalised by the UK government, who has a 85 percent stake in the bank
headquarters
36 St Andrew Sq.
EH2 2YB Edinburgh
United Kingdom
position top 1000 the Banker
In million US$. Ranking according to Tier 1 capital, as per definition Bank of International Settlements (BIS)
The CDP impels organisations to record their carbon footprint in daily activities. Encouraging enterprises to calculate and disclose their carbon impact, this initiative highlights the challenge for financial institutions to determine exactly how much carbon output can be attributed to financing.
Voluntary framework to guide the finance sector in tackling the challenge of climate change. They address the management of operational greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and provide direction on managing climate change in research activities; asset management; retail banking; insurance & re-insurance; corporate banking; investment banking & markets; project finance.
The EPs are a set of guidelines, based upon the Performance Standards and guidelines from the IFC, the World Bank's private sector lending arm for private banks to asesses and mitigate risks in project finance. Banks use the Principles to guide internal operating procedures for transaction for specific projects. Although the EPs are an important step to raise overall standards of financiers and projects in the developing world, they currently fall short on transparency and governance requirements.
The verification and full publication of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas and mining is supported by the EITI. Financial institutions can participate and encourage resource-rich countries to support the initiative that aims to defeat poverty, corruption and conflict caused by weak transparency and accountability.
As the name suggests, the GRI aims to standardise good practice in transparency. GRI provides companies with guidelines to organise their annual report with reporting indices and standards addressing environmental, social and economic issues that business ought to address when telling the world about its performance.
The UN Global Compact is a set of ten principles that companies may sign voluntarily. Signatories promise to avoid complicity in human rights violations, adhere to labour standards, protect the environment and avoid corruption. The G8 countries urge companies to participate in this initiative, and with over 2900 companies signing up, the Global Compact has momentum. A voluntary and network based framework, the Global Compact actively promotes peer review and stakeholder participation.
UNEP is the 'voice of the environment' for the United Nations system, promoting international cooperation in the field of the environment. Issues concerning the financial community are addressed by the UNEP Finance Initiative which promotes investment in clean and renewable energy by financial institutions and other investors. Financial insititutions wishing to join must sign one of two Statements (for financial institutions and a separate one for the insurance industry).
UNPRI is a set of six principles direct institutional investors may adopt to consider environmental, social and corporate governance issues when investing. Voluntary and aspirational in nature, UNPRI has since its inception in 2006 attracted 200 signatories, representing US$8 trillion worth of investments.
Since the turn of the century a group of twelve banks known as the Wolfsberg Group have collaborated to improve ethical standards. The principles provide guidance on money laundering, corruption and the financing of terrorism. They have been produced to address deficiencies in areas 'yet to be fully articulated by lawmakers or regulators'.
On October 5th, 2004 an official agreement was signed between the Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and Sterlite Industries, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources plc, for the…
In the Canadian Boreal forest just downstream of the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains are the Canadian tar sands. The region contains some 2 trillion barrels of oil,…
Cluster munitions pose a serious threat to civilian populations during and after a conflict. Cluster munitions are designed to blanket a large area containing one or more…
The United States Geological Survey estimates that 30% of the world's undiscovered gas and 13% of the world's undiscovered oil is to be found north of the Arctic Circle.…
Located in the western Melaky region of Mahajanga pronvince are the two most developed tar sands projects of Magagascar, named Bemolanga and Tsimiroro. The size of both fields…
Mountain top removal mining is a form of strip mining in which coal companies use explosives to blast as much as 800 to 1000 feet off the tops of mountains order to reach…
HidroAysén - owned by European company Endesa and Chilean company Colbun - plans to dam two of Chile's most powerful and pristine rivers, the Baker and Pascua Rivers.…
The Sakhalin II project in the Russian Far East is said by project sponsors to be the largest integrated oil and gas project in the world. The project involves…
The ‘Shwe' (meaning ‘golden' in Burmese) projects entail exploitation of underwater natural gas deposits off the coast of western Burma's Arakan State and dual…
Dynegy LS Power is currently planning to construct more new coal-fired power plants than any other company in the USA, which will result in very large increases in greenhouse…
The Grasberg mine, located in the indonesian province of Papua, on the island New Guinea, just north of Australia, is being run by the mining company Freeport McMoran. The…
Sesa Goa is the largest iron ore producer and exporter of Goa. Since 2007 Vedanta Resources is the majority shareholder of Sesa Goa. Sesa Goa's main mining operations are…
BankTrack has identified controversial issues
with the companies listed below that require attention from RBS.
Alliant Techsystems
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) is the world's largest manufacturer of ammunition and a leading supplier of precision systems and electronic warfare. The company is also active…
Coal India Limited (Coal India) is the biggest coal producer worldwide, owned by the government of India (see paragraph 3.9). At the end of March 2010, Coal India operated…
E.ON is a German electricity company headquartered in Düsseldorf and is another of big beasts of energy production. E.ON operates along the entire value chain of power…
Eurosibenergo ESE (also known as "En+Power") is an electricity generation company which owns majority shares in 4 major Siberian hydropower plants: Irkutskaya, Bratskaya,…
Freeport McMoRan is an international mining company with headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. Freeport McMoran operates primarily in copper-, gold- and molybdenum mines.Freeport…
Recently, two big European electricity utilities, GDF Suez and International Power, have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish the largest independent electricity…
Lockheed Martin is a global security company that is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology…
As Europe's second largest electricity generator and one of Europe's five leading gas and electricity companies, this German utility is another of energy and gas production's…
Sweden's state-owned Vattenfall is Europe's fifth largest generator of electricity and largest producer of heat. Vattenfall delivers electricity to around 7.4 million customers…
Vedanta Resources is a mining company. It produces aluminum, copper, lead and zinc. Vedanta has a strong position in India, where its founder Anil Agarwal was born, but is…
Vinci is a leading company involved in concessions and construction, and is operating in around 100 countries. Overall, the company is involved in the designing, building,…
As a result of legal and contractual obligations the bank can not comment on individual companies or projects. However, after receiving a more detailed version of the Report in December we may be able to offer further detail.
Dirty Money - Corporate greenwash and RBS coal finance
Mar 21, 2011 | Platform
This report takes the case of the Royal Bank of Scotland, an international bank with interests across the fossil fuel sector that is promoting itself as a genuine actor in climate change efforts.
Cashing in on coal: RBS, UK banks and the global coal industry
Aug 01, 2008 | Platform
Report on the role in the last two years of the (RBS), HSBC and Barclays in providing and arranging the financial means to the coal industry to extract and burn vast quant
Letter to BankTrack as a response to BT letter of February 11, 2010
Mar 29, 2010 | Equator Principles Financial Insititutions, Citi
The first response ever to one of the letters BankTrack sent to the Equator Principles Financial Insititutions. It is a response to the BankTrack follow up letter after the meeting in Zuerich, February 4.
Jan 04, 2012 - 2011 was the year full of controversies. Our cyber satire unveils banks and bankers that talk green but invest in climate killer coal fired power plants.
RBS protest tar sand finance - in a song..
Dec 15, 2011 - Campaign video on tar sands investment of RBS
Aug 26, 2010 - a three min video of people carrying a 'trojan piggy' bank to RBS-financed Cairn Energy HQ (who are currently drilling in arctic Greenland) and covering it in oil
Mel Evans about Platform and BankTrack
May 19, 2010 - Video shot during the BankTrack annual meeting in Zuerich, January 2010.
Apr 29, 2010 - involving protest of local UK groups
Banking in the Shadows .. a Trip to Jersey
Sep 07, 2009 - The British Channel Island of Jersey is a major European tax haven.
In March 2009, European activists visited Jersey to expose how tax havens affect the lives of ordinary people around the world.
Lawsuit on RBS on channel 4
Jul 07, 2009 - item on channel 4 news describing lawsuit on UK government support for RBS
headquarters
36 St Andrew Sq.
EH2 2YB Edinburgh
United Kingdom
position top 1000 the Banker
In million US$. Ranking according to Tier 1 capital, as per definition Bank of International Settlements (BIS)
International website developed by BankTrack, CRBM, Les Amis de la Terre, Netwerk Vlaanderen, Platform, Setem and Urgewald.
Information in English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Spanish.
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