Westminster Bank of Westminster Bank, became first chairman of the fifth largest bank in the world. In 1969 David Robarts, former chairman of National Provincial, assumed Stirling's position. The statutory process of integration was completed in 1969 and the new company, National Westminster Bank Limited, opened its doors for business on 1 January 1970. NatWest, as it became known, is now part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group. Westminster Bank Westminster Bank was a British retail bank which operated in England and Wales from 1834 until its merger into the National Westminster Bank in 1970; it continued to exist as a
City National Bank (California) demanded as ransom money. In 1970, its stock began trading over the counter. In the 1990s, it acquired seven banks: First Los Angeles Bank (1995), Ventura County National Bank (1997), Frontier Bank (1997), Riverside National Bank (1997), Harbor Bank (1998), North American Trust Company (1998), and American Pacific State Bank (1999). In 2000, the bank expanded into Northern California in with the purchase of The Pacific Bank, followed by the acquisition of the Oakland-based Civic BanCorp in 2002. It had also acquired The Pacific Bank in 2000 as well as Reed, Conner & Birdwell and the People's Bank of California