Coutts

Coutts is a private banking business owned by NatWest.

It started in 1692. It is the eighth oldest bank in the world. Scots goldsmith-banker, John Campbell of Lundie, Scotland set up business in the Strand, London, under a sign of the Three Crowns, as was usual before street numbers. Today, the Coutts logo still has the three crowns, and its headquarters is still on the Strand. In 1919, Coutts merged with the National Provincial & Union Bank of England but kept the Coutts & Co. name and board of directors. In 1969, National Provincial Bank merged with Westminster Bank to form National Westminster Bank. Until the 20th century Coutts was a clearing bank to the nobility and landed gentry, but then became a wealth manager to a wider range of clients, including entrepreneurs, entertainers, sportsmen, professionals, executives, lottery winners, and football players. and the British Royal Family.

It has rules about who can be a customer of the bank. In 2023 it closed the account of Nigel Farage. The bank said he had broken the rules, but they also said he was not the sort of customer they wanted. In the row that followed the NatWest chief executive Alison Rose resigned after admitting to the inaccurate briefing of a BBC journalist.