Bó was a banking brand that operated in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

between November 2019 and May 2020. Bó operated as a trading division of

National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank, trading as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it becam ...

, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, later renamed

NatWest Group NatWest Group plc is a British banking and insurance holding company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The group operates a wide variety of banking brands offering personal and business banking, private banking, investment banking, insurance and ...

History

In March 2018, it was revealed that the then Royal Bank of Scotland Group were planning to establish a

digital banking Digital banking is part of the broader context for the move to online banking, where banking services are delivered over the internet. The shift from traditional to digital banking has been gradual, remains ongoing, and is constituted by differi ...

brand to rival services offered by newly established and tech-focused

challenger bank Challenger banks are small, recently created retail banks that compete directly with the longer-established banks in the UK, sometimes by specialising in areas underserved by the "big four" banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, and NatWe ...

s. The name of the new banking brand, Bó, was announced in September 2018. Bó was launched to the public on 27 November 2019, following a period of beta testing by RBS Group employees. The development of Bó was estimated as costing £100 million. Bó did not offer overdraft facilities or the ability to open joint accounts. The chief executive officer of Bó, Mark Bailie, announced that he would be leaving the bank in 2020. On 1 May 2020, it was announced that Bó would close, and its 11,413 customers were given 60 days to withdraw their money. Staff working for Bó would be transferred to NatWest's Mettle business banking division.

Branding

The Bó brand was developed by Accenture Interactive. The name Bó was described as having no meaning in the

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

but it has been reported that the word means "cow" in Irish and "to live" in Danish. Bó used the marketing slogan "Do Money Better".

Debit card A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card, is a payment card that can be used in place of cash to make purchases. The card usually consists of the bank's name, a card number, the cardholder's name, and an expiration date, on either ...

s were yellow and in the portrait orientation on the front side, showing only the bank name and customer name. The card number, sort code and account number, expiration dates and CVC codes were printed on the reverse side.

References

External links

Official website
{{UK banks Defunct banks of the United Kingdom NatWest Group British companies established in 2019 British companies disestablished in 2020 Banks established in 2019 Banks disestablished in 2020 Companies based in London Online banks

History

Branding

See also

References

External links