NatWest

National Westminster Bank Plc, commonly known as NatWest, is the largest retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom. Since 2000 it has been part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, ranked among the top 10 largest banks in the world by assets. NatWest was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank (established 1833 as National Provincial Bank of England) and Westminster Bank (established 1834 as London County and Westminster Bank).

Traditionally considered one of the Big Four clearing banks, it has a large network of 1,400 branches and 3,400 cash machines across Great Britain and offers 24-hour Actionline telephone and online banking services. Today it has more than 7.5 million personal customers and 850,000 small business accounts. In Ireland it operates through its Ulster Bank subsidiary.

History

NatWest Three

The NatWest Three, also known as the Enron Three, are three British businessmen - Giles Darby, David Bermingham and Gary Mulgrew. In 2002 they were indicted in Houston, Texas on seven counts of wire fraud against their former employer Greenwich NatWest, at the time a division of National Westminster Bank.

After a high-profile battle in the British courts they were extradited from the United Kingdom to the United States in 2006. On 28 November 2007, each pled guilty to one count of wire fraud in exchange for the other charges being dropped. On 22 February 2008 they were each sentenced to 37 months in prison. Initially they were jailed in the US, but were later repatriated to UK prisons to serve out the rest of their sentences and released from custody in August 2010.

Background

In the year 2000 the three had been working for Greenwich NatWest, then a unit of NatWest bank, later acquired by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The three were involved in Greenwich NatWest's dealings with Enron Corporation. As a result of these dealings NatWest owned a stake in a Cayman Islands-registered partnership called Swap Sub.