NatWest will move its headquarters out of Scotland after 294 years if the country becomes independent, chief executive Alison Rose has said.
Ms Rose said the bailed-out bank would be forced to act because it is simply too big for the Scottish economy to support. The lender – which last year changed its name from Royal Bank of Scotland – holds around £770bn of assets, almost five times Scotland’s GDP.
In her first substantive remarks on the potential break-up of the Union since taking charge of the bank in 2019, Ms Rose said: “In the event that there was independence for Scotland our balance sheet would be too big for an independent Scottish economy.
“And so we would move our registered headquarters, in the event of independence, to London.”
The warning comes days before Scots go to the polls to elect a new devolved government, with the SNP seeking a mandate for a second independence referendum.
Ms Rose added: “We are neutral on the issue of Scottish independence. It’s something for the Scottish people to decide.”
NatWest employs more than 10,000 people north of the border, with the majority based in its sprawling Gogarburn headquarters on the outskirts of Edinburgh, which is set in 100 acres of woodland on the site of a former psychiatric institution.
It also lends more than £5m a day to Scottish households and businesses.
A NatWest spokesman said any change in the bank’s registered headquarters would have no implications on its offices, staff or customers.
The bank’s previous management said before the 2014 Scottish independence referendum that a yes vote would force them to move its head office to London. However, Ms Rose has said little on the issue until now.
The move will also raise questions about rival Lloyds Banking Group, which has been registered in Scotland since its merger with HBOS in 2009. A source at the bank said is was too early to speculate about any change.
Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said RBS’s warning “starkly confirms the very real consequences for Scottish jobs and business if Nicola Sturgeon ever gets her way”.
