Rugby: Royal Bank of Scotland will not continue as the title sponsor of the Six Nations after 2017

The British banking group the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) will not extend its commitment as the title sponsor of the Six Nations rugby tournament after 2017, announced the organisers of the tournament and the bank, on 03/06/2016.

RBS has been the naming sponsor of the tournament since the 2003 edition. The bank signed an extension of four years before the 2013 tournament, for an estimated £44m per year (€54.2m at the time), according to British media.

"RBS has sponsored the Six Nations since 2003 and it has been a long and successful partnership which has brought tangible benefits to our business. However, as a bank we are now looking at realigning our sponsorship strategy to our customer facing brands, so we feel the time is right to look for alternative sponsorship assets that better fit with our brand strategy. As we focus back on our home markets in the UK and Ireland, we have decided not to renew the sponsorship beyond 2017," said David Wheldon, chief marketing officer of RBS, on 03/06/2016.

• The 2017 Six Nations Rugby tournament will be held from 04/02/2017 to 18/03/2017.