Royal Bank of Scotland is to rebrand to Natwest later this year it revealed in its results today.

While the overall group will become Natwest Group, individual branches will retain their RBS or Natwest branding.

The news came as the bank reported that its annual profits have almost doubled to £3.1bn for 2019, up from £1.6bn the year before.

Gross mortgage lending increased by nearly 10 per cent from £30.4 bn to £33.3bn over the same period.

Commentators say the rebrand of the group is an attempt to distance the bank from associations with the financial crisis when it received a £45bn bailout.

It is the first set of results for the lender’s new chief executive Alison Rose who took over from Ross McEwan in November last year, to become the first female boss of a top five high street bank.

gross new mortgage lending was £33.3 billion in 2019 compared with £30.4 billion in 2018.

In her statement accompanying the results, Rose says: “We, like our customers, are living in a period of unprecedented disruption – whether it is the struggle to get on the housing ladder or starting a business, the rapid growth of disruptive technology, an ageing population, the emergence of the gig economy or the existential impact of climate change.

“The way people live is changing, and their expectations of companies are changing too. 

“I firmly believe in response, we have to adopt a new approach that moves away from a view that is defined by products and transactions, and uses the strength of the relationships we have with all of our stakeholders as the real test of our progress.”

Rose goes on to say she wants the bank to be a leader in the fight against climate change by making its own operations carbon neutral this year.