ROYAL BANK of Scotland is choosing to transform part of its London office into a virtual football stadium to entertain investment banking clients, rather than flying them to the World Cup in a sign of the austere economic climate surrounding the tournament.
The UK government-backed bank, which is midway through an extensive cost-cutting drive, has invited about 3,000 clients to watch the matches at one of its main offices near the City.
Its glass-walled office has a 100ft-high atrium in the centre, which is typically used for conferences.
As a way of creating a stadium-like atmosphere, the bank plans to lay flooring to mimic a pitch complete with markings and erect a canopy above it. The World Cup games, which run for four weeks from June 11th, will be projected on giant screens around the “pitch”.
Clients of RBS’s investment banking division, global banking and markets will be invited to attend screenings of selected matches. The space will hold about 350 to 400 people at any one time.
RBS, which owns Ulster Bank, said the chance to gather that number of clients in its offices was a good business opportunity.
“Seeing our customers is an important part of what we do as a bank, and by showing games in one of our offices we will be able to get together with a large number of those clients,” said the bank.
RBS, which this week revealed it would be cutting 500 jobs at its wealth management division, would not disclose the cost of its World Cup event, although it said it would be a fraction of the price of going to the South African tournament.
– (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010)
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