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Financial capability
Our ambition is to support the financial capability of our customers and communities. We aim to champion the potential of people and families at every stage of their lives. By working to create a society which is financially confident and resilient, we want to empower people to take control of their finances and their futures, and to make the most of their money.
Our commitments
15 million financial capability interactions by 2023.
Our ambition is to help our customers and communities develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to manage their money in ways that give them control and peace of mind. During 2022, we delivered 5.1m(*) interactions, with a cumulative total of 14.07m interactions against the strategic target of 15 million by 2023.
Help 2 million additional customers start saving by 2023.
Our priority is to support customers who have no, or very limited, savings with us to develop good savings habits. Our success measures are based on the number of customers that have managed to save £100 or more since January 2020 – and comparing that with the number of customers who had less than £100 in savings the previous year. During 2022, we helped an additional 0.5m(*) customers start to save, with a cumulative total of 1.7m(1) customers to date against the strategic target of 2 million by 2023.
(*) Within the scope of EY assurance. Refer to page 70 of 2022 ESG Supplement
(**) Delivered in FY 2022 against the 2023 target. Includes additional initiatives approved during 2021 and 2022 which met the criteria for inclusion in the financial capability target
(***) During FY 2022 against the 2023 target Includes instances where customers had savings with other banks and transferred them to their NatWest Group account. Includes additional 144k customers for 2021 and 2020. The customers helped to start to save criteria were revised in April 2022 to reflect products aligned to the ambition.
MoneySense – Through the MoneySense schools programme we’ve reached over 1 million young people during 2022. We have reached over 10 million young people since the programme was launched in 1994.
Please see our 2022 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Supplement (PDF 9.6KB) for more information on how we are helping improve financial confidence and resilience.
Supporting our communities
In 2022 we continued to develop our range of free, easy-to-access initiatives for both customers and non-customers to develop good money habits.
MoneySense
Recognising the fast-changing world of money and the need to break the cultural taboos surrounding it, this year MoneySense focused on offering tangible support to our different audiences. For parents, new content has explored how to talk to children about the rising cost of living, dealing with pester power and cryptocurrencies. For young adults, our In Focus series has tackled key cost of living themes, such as inflation, investing and finding support for their future. Talk Money Week in November saw us launch a dedicated Talk Money hub and a series of vox pop videos across social media channels, which explored the topics of credit, debt, and how talking about money makes us feel. In schools we launched a guide for teachers to introduce talking about money in the classroom, and how it can impact young people’s lives. Through the MoneySense schools programme we’ve reached over 1 million young people during 2022.
NatWest Rooster Money
NatWest Rooster Money is a prepaid debit card and pocket money app that gets young people confident with money and helps develop positive money habits.
Launched as NatWest Rooster Money in May 2022 it is simple for parents, carers and children to learn together through easy-to-use educational content and tools to build important life skills. Over 136,000 UK families are moving through the milestones of learning about money. Features in the app include a virtual pocket money tracker and savings pots. Young people can also learn about earning through chores, and there are family-friendly controls and educational tools, helping young people grow their money confidence.
Funding for charities and partners
Following consultation with our partner organisations, NatWest Group launched a package of support for customers, colleagues and communities to help with the rising cost of living. This included £4 million in donations delivered in collaboration with organisations including Citizens Advice, The Trussell Trust, Step Change and PayPlan, to provide support and grants.
‘We are very grateful for the donation NatWest has made towards our Help through Hardship helpline, that we deliver in collaboration with The Trussell Trust and MIND. The helpline has been in huge demand. NatWest’s donation will help us to provide vital support to people facing hardship, sadly needed now more than ever as the cost of living crisis continues to unfold’ - Dame Clare Moriarty Chief Executive of Citizens Advice
Supporting our customers
This year we have stepped up our support for those seeking to know more about how to manage their money, start a savings pot or deal with the unexpected. The focus of our financial capability initiatives is to support customers to build resilience and skills, so they can better deal with price increases and know where to go for help and information.
Tips and tools to navigate the cost of living
A dedicated cost of living section on our websites has information, hints, tips and tools providing easy-to-access help and guidance for customers. Moneysaving tips, budget planning and a tool for reviewing benefit support complement the Spending Tracker app tool where customers can view real time activity in their account, supporting financial knowledge.
Financial Health Checks
Our trained Senior Personal Bankers provided reviews of personal finances during the year, helping customers to chat through their goals and focus on their future.
Inbest benefit calculator
An early pilot programme helping households identify benefits they may be entitled to has shown strong results. The most common reason why people miss their benefits is that they are unaware of welfare benefits they are allowed or assume they are not eligible. By offering access to the Inbest Benefit Calculator via our website, customers can simply and anonymously identify unclaimed benefits and maximise their income. Early data indicates that 82% of users who completed the calculator are eligible for previously unclaimed benefits, averaging £662 per month.
Making saving easier
Developing a savings habit is an essential element of building financial resilience, and this year we introduced Round Ups to our suite of savings and investment products.
Know My Credit Score
Understanding a credit score and how it is calculated is an important part of developing good money management skills. Building a good credit score can affect a person’s ability to borrow money or access products such as credit cards or loans. The Know My Credit Score feature in the banking app provides a free score and recommends things to do to improve it. 3.8m customers have used the feature 30 million times this year, up 58% on 2021, helping them grow their financial capability.
See our full 2022 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report (PDF 9.6MB)
Building strong financial foundations
Scaling our financial capability education offering
Our Financial Foundations pilot programme aims to help develop good money practices and financial resilience for adults. Initially, the Financial Foundations programme centred around a series of free, interactive workshops facilitated by trained bank colleagues for small groups of young adults, job seekers and survivors of domestic abuse.
However, the financial challenges of 2022 meant there was a much wider interest in the programme from new audiences. As well as local authorities, social housing groups and higher education teaching staff, we received enquiries from large corporate and commercial clients.
A.S. Watson Group is one such example. It operates over 1,300 retail stores across the UK and Ireland, including the Savers and Superdrug brands, which employ around 20,000 people across these locations.
We delivered the Financial Foundations workshops as a webinar to a range of their colleagues, covering topics such as budgeting, planning for the unexpected and managing debt.
The response to the sessions was positive, with some participants committing to take new actions to improve their financial situation.
‘We’re passionate about bringing the very best information to our colleagues so we were delighted to partner with NatWest to provide these sessions.’
Jennie Kerr, A.S. Watson Group Head of Payroll, Shared Services & Reward
Read more about how we support customers who find themselves either in a vulnerable situation or caring for a loved one experiencing a vulnerability.
Read more about how we are committed to ensuring we empower customers to detect and prevent fraud and scams at first point of contact.