Royal Bank of Scotland

The Society of the Subscribed Equivalent Debt was established in 1724, stemming from the aftermath of the failed Darien Scheme, a disastrous overseas colonial venture by Scotland. This scheme had left many Scottish investors with significant losses. The Society's primary role was to manage and distribute the Equivalent, a sum of money given to Scotland as compensation for those losses and to offset Scottish public debts, in accordance with the terms set out during the Acts of Union 1707 which united Scotland and England into the Kingdom of Great Britain.

By 1727, seeing the potential for banking operations amidst the evolving economic landscape of the newly united kingdom, the Society sought to leverage its financial position. With this aim, it successfully secured a royal charter to operate as a bank and was subsequently renamed the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). This marked the birth of RBS as a banking institution, which over the centuries, would establish itself as one of the major banks in Scotland and the UK at large.