Ulster Bank was founded in 1836 and became a wholly owned subsidiary of NatWest in 1917. In March 2000, NatWest Group was the subject of a successful take-over bid by The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Ulster Bank Group is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the enlarged RBS group. The RBS group is the third largest bank in Europe and the UK and the ninth largest in the world by market capitalisation. First Active, a leading mortgage provider, was acquired by Ulster Bank Group in January 2004 in a  €887 million transaction.

The combination of Ulster Bank and First Active creates a highly effective challenger to the larger competitors in the Irish banking market. First Active's strength in mortgages savings and investment products complement Ulster Bank's broader range of banking products for personal and business customers. In the Republic of Ireland, the enlarged Ulster Bank Group has approximately 800,000 personal and business customers and a network of 181 branches. Across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, there are approximately 1.7 million personal and business customers, 272 branches and 6,300 staff.

Both First Active and Ulster Bank retain their own brands, branch networks and distinctive customer propositions. Cost savings are achieved by combining funding, technology and processing activities and central functions. Revenue benefits are achieved by selling more mortgage and savings products to Ulster Bank's customers, and a broader range of banking products to First Active's customers. This multi-brand distribution strategy, with shared manufacturing, is consistent with the approach successfully implemented by The Royal Bank of Scotland in the United Kingdom following the acquisition of NatWest.

Serving personal and small business customers, Ulster Bank Retail Banking provides Branch Banking, Wealth Management and Direct Banking throughout the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ulster Bank Corporate Banking & Financial Markets caters for the banking needs of business and corporate customers, treasury and money market activities, asset finance, ebanking and international services. With a continued focus on providing customer choice and value, First Active serves personal and small business customers through its separately branded product offerings and branch network throughout the Republic of Ireland.

Ulster Bank Retail Banking comprises of three distinct customer facing Divisions:

1. Retail: The shop window of the bank to the public operating out of 91 outlets in Northern Ireland and 124 outlets in Republic of Ireland. This Division is responsible for the branch-based marketing, sales and service activities delivering a full range of competitively priced products to the marketplace.
2. Wealth Management: For retail customers Wealth Management provides and sells Insurance and Investment products and Stockbroking, Trusts and Wills Services. For High Net Worth individuals, Wealth Management has built a relationship management capability to serve this customer type. The context of this relationship will be personal wealth management. One of the key objectives for this business is to attract non-Ulster Bank customers.
3. Direct Banking: This is responsible for all card based business, Anytime telephony/internet business, direct product offerings and eCommerce strategy and activities.

"Simply Better Banking" was introduced in January 2004 with a soft launch throughout the organisation. Through the consistent delivery of this proposition, the Bank aims to improve customer satisfaction at every interaction whether it be face to face, via telephone/internet, or by direct communication to the consumer.

Ulster Bank Corporate Banking & Financial Markets - Winners of the Corporate Banking Excellence Award 2005 & 2006,, looks after the banking needs of our business and corporate customers as well as offering treasury and money market activities, ebanking, international services and specialised finance services. We offer a fully integrated corporate, institutional and financial markets capability and have a genuine commitment to long term relationship banking. The division comprises three distinct units:

1. The Business and Corporate Banking division develops and manages the Group's overall relationship with its corporate customers in the Republic of Ireland through a number of specialised teams. Each team consists of experienced bankers focusing on the specific needs of our customers, be they public, private or semi-state companies.
2. Business Banking is the corporate business division of the Group based in Northern Ireland. Business Banking provides a one-stop business shop by offering a fast response and seamless service to customers. The unit was created to improve the quality of lending and ensure delivery of a quality professional service to the business market.
   Business customers can access business banking expertise at Ulster Bank's Business Centres conveniently located throughout the whole of Ireland and set up to deal with clients with a borrowing requirement greater than £100K or with credit turnover greater than £1.5M.
3. Located in Dublin's International Financial Services Centre (IFSC), the Financial Markets division is a leading provider of treasury, payments and international banking and specialised finance services. The Treasury division is the main customer facing part of Financial Markets, and the team delivers a customer centric approach to working with companies managing business risk, including foreign exchange, interest rate and other financial exposures.

First Active is focused primarily on providing residential and commercial loans as well as value-added savings and investment products to the Irish market. In addition, First Active also offers a wide range of insurance and assurance products. First Active has 57 Branches in the Republic of Ireland, (these do not provide in-branch cash facilities). While First Active operates primarily in the Republic of Ireland the company also provides retail savings and investment products in Guernsey, Channel Islands.