Coutts & Co announces move into Essex and opens for Business in Milton Keynes

3 further offices planned – locations to be announced next year

Coutts & Co, the UK’s leading private bank, has today opened its 17^th regional office in the centre of Milton Keynes and has also announced its intention to open a further office in Chelmsford, Essex, in 2007. Three further locations for new Coutts offices will be announced next year. The new offices follow the success of the launch of Coutts in Liverpool at the end of 2003 and marks the continued expansion of Coutts throughout the UK.

This is the third wave of Coutts’ regional expansion plan, which has increased the numbers of private bankers working from its offices outside of London by 60% – in some cases doubling local teams.

Sarah Deaves, Chief Executive, Coutts & Co, commented: “We are delighted to be opening in Milton Keynes at the same time as announcing our intentions for Chelmsford. Since announcing our plans for Milton Keynes we have had nothing but positive feedback from the local professional community and we are looking forward to working more closely with them and our clients in the region.

“We have chosen Chelmsford as the location for our next office to grow our business throughout Essex and South Suffolk – one of the last major geographical areas without direct Coutts representation. Chelmsford is an attractive market town with a thriving business community and was an obvious choice when deciding where to locate the office.

“These new offices are a fantastic reflection of the regional expansion programme in which we have invested over the last few years. We want to be accessible and geographically close to our clients. Where our competitors are only now beginning to move back into regional private banking, many having exited in 2002/3, Coutts is reaping the rewards of its long term commitment to the UK regions, which now represent the fastest growing part of our business. Year on year we have grown private banker numbers and are delighted to see this programme of expansion continue into new areas.”

Recent research conducted by Experian**, on behalf of Coutts, suggests that both the M1 corridor and Essex are also havens for the millionaires of the future. Currently over 13,500 people along the M1 corridor are classed as ‘potential millionaires’ and Essex is home to over 4,500 – 66% of which live in the Chelmsford postcode area.***

“The people we have identified in this survey are the millionaires of the future”, explains Deaves. “They are typically company directors, or partners in professional practices, whose earnings and assets, by way of share holdings and dividends, for example, by far exceed what they could expect to earn purely from salary.

“Receiving expert wealth management advice will be crucial if they are to achieve their full wealth potential, and our new offices will help us to reach and assist them from a location local to where they live.”

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes is becoming an increasingly popular choice for large corporates. Allowing easy access to towns along the M1 corridor, it now hosts over 7,200 employers and has been rated 5^th out of 48 cities for overall business environment.**** The bank has recruited six private banking staff to the office, but with desk space for 20 available, this will increase as required. Chelmsford Chelmsford was established in Roman times and first developed as a market town. It is now an important manufacturing centre with a growing financial services sector. It also has a rapidly growing population and a fifth of the population of Great Britain live within an hour’s drive of the town. The office will also open with six private banking staff, with the opportunity to increase this as required.

- ENDS -

For further media information on Coutts contact:

Nick Gill PR Manager, Coutts & Co on 0207 957 2427 or mobile 07970 001156 or e-mail nick.gill@coutts.com

*Future millionaires identified in Hemel Hempstead, St Albans, Luton, Milton Keynes and Northampton. Actual figure 13,713.

** The statistics were produced using the Financial Strategy Segments which classifies all 44 million adults in GB into thirty one distinct financial lifestyle types. This is compiled using the GB Postcode Mosaic and the Person Pixel.

*** Source: Experian

**** Black Horse Relocation’s “Best Cities for Business” survey

Notes to Editors

Coutts

Coutts is the international private banking arm of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is one of the world's largest banking groups.
Coutts manages the wealth of 96,000 high net worth clients worldwide through a network of 40 offices globally.
The first Coutts regional office to be opened was Eton in 1961. The most recent new opening was Liverpool at the end of 2003. Today, Coutts has regional offices in Bath, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Eton, Guildford, Hampshire, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford and Tunbridge Wells.
Coutts offers clients a range of products and services covering sophisticated investment products together with expertise in trust and fiduciary services and UK tax and banking services.
Coutts, for three years running (2003-2005) was awarded ‘Best Use of Long-Only Multi-Manager Structures’ at the Private Asset Management Awards
Coutts & Co is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Coutts & Co Registered in England No 36695Registered Office 440 Strand London WC2R 0QS
Calls may be recorded