Letter: RBS needs to be properly Scottish

Thirty years ago my brother, Sir Iain Noble, wrote a letter to The Scotsman on the subject of the Royal Bank of Scotland and the importance of maintaining its headquarters in Scotland.

At that time the RBS board was recommending a "merger" with Standard Chartered Bank, under which the merged group would be run from London.

My brother's letter focused on the damage which the loss of such an important Scottish company's headquarters would cause, not just to the strength and depth of the Scottish financial sector but to everyone in Scotland, through less business for lawyers, accountants, printers and other suppliers, to less support for the arts and culture, and distant decision-making for the allocation of loans. As he said: "One can sign away the ownership of an ancient institution in 30 seconds by the stroke of a pen, but it would take an aeon to recreate a new Scottish bank of equal importance."

His letter started a groundswell of public opinion against the proposed "merger", which was subsequently vetoed by the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC, now the Competition Commission) on the grounds that the significance of RBS to the economy of Scotland was too important to allow the decision to be left to the shareholders.

Now we find that not only has Scotland lost the headquarters of the Bank of Scotland but also I understand that RBS's main decisions are taken in London in contravention of the MMC's decision 30 years ago. One does not know whether his board gave its approval for the move.

As a consequence of the bank's actions, I am aware of lawyers and printers whose long-standing service to RBS has been ended in favour of businesses based close to London, without being offered any chance to compete for the business taken away from them.

I am also aware of charities which believe this has resulted in a reduction in their income. The damage which the MMC tried to avert is now being done.

While RBS is still majority-owned by the government I would like to suggest that the people of Scotland should demand that its headquarters are kept firmly in Scotland, with all the top executives of the group instructed to have their main personal residences in Scotland and have their main personal offices and secretaries in Edinburgh, and that all board meetings of the bank should be held in Scotland - just as was the case from its founding in 1727 up to 2008.

These instructions should be required to override any personal preferences of individuals employed within the bank or of its non-executive directors.

If those in England with the requisite power to achieve this result do not do so, then we should insist that the bank changes its name to the Royal Bank of England.

Sir Timothy Noble

Barnton Avenue

Edinburgh