NatWest UK, and it has a large network of over 960 branches and 3,400 cash machines across Great Britain and offers 24-hour "Actionline" telephone and online banking services. Today, it has more than 7.5 million personal customers and 850,000 small business accounts. In Ireland, it operates through its Ulster Bank subsidiary. In 2017, NatWest was awarded Best Banking App in the British Bank Awards. The bank's origins date back to 1658 with the foundation of Smith's Bank of Nottingham. The creation of the modern bank was announced in 1968, and National Westminster Bank Limited commenced trading on 1 January 1970, after
British Linen Bank the British Linen Bank to the Bank of Scotland, and the two were quickly integrated – for example, the British Linen Bank's Glasgow headquarters building on Ingram Street was demolished by the Bank of Scotland to make way for a concrete office building which was built in 1971. The Act however allowed British Linen Bank to continue as a separate company, and in 1977 the bank resumed as the merchant bank arm of the Bank of Scotland. However, in 1999, the Bank of Scotland decided to stop using the British Linen Bank name, renaming its merchant bank activities as Bank