The failure of the Royal Bank of Scotland
Pepper, A.
(2025).
The failure of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
In
Sallai, D. & Pepper, A.
(Eds.),
Navigating the 21st Century Business World: Case Studies in Management
(pp. 111 - 118).
LSE Press.
https://doi.org/10.31389/lsepress.nbw.h
(2025).
The failure of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
In
Sallai, D. & Pepper, A.
(Eds.),
Navigating the 21st Century Business World: Case Studies in Management
(pp. 111 - 118).
LSE Press.
https://doi.org/10.31389/lsepress.nbw.h
Using newspaper articles and other secondary material, this case tells the story of how an apparently successful acquisition, coinciding with the 2008–2009 global financial crisis, brought about the near bankruptcy of the Royal Bank of Scotland. It considers how subprime mortgages were securitised and sold throughout the global financial industry, creating systemic risk and leading to large losses when the American housing market went into recession, and how an ill-conceived major acquisition came about because of ‘over-reaching’, with catastrophic consequences. It can be used in teaching about the global financial crisis, business strategy (mergers and acquisitions), leadership, governance and business ethics.
