NatWest is committed to helping improve financial capability in the UK. The bank has focused on addressing the UK’s underlying hidden crisis of confidence in straightforward banking tasks in order to empower customers and communities with the foundational skills, resilience and confidence to take control of their money.
From NatWest research, 2.6 million people in the UK never check their direct debits and are wasting £25 billion each year on unwanted and unused regular payments as a result. This year, so far, Natwest has reached c. 2.4 million people in the UK through financial capability interactions. The bank is on track to beat its target of 2.5 million financial capability interactions. NatWest has set a target to create 2 million additional savers by 2023, and this year has already helped to create 447K new savers.
David Lindberg, CEO of Retail Banking at NatWest, said: “NatWest is pleased to be supporting Talk Money week. Through MoneySense, our Financial Health Checks and other tools and resources, we want to empower people to take control of their money; to get the most out of it by budgeting, saving and planning for their future. A lack of financial capability can hold someone back from what they want to achieve and helping young people understand money early can make a real difference.”.
“We thrive when our customers and communities do and so if they’re not feeling confident in money then it is core to our purpose as a bank to do something about it. We have the people and the tools to help”.
NatWest has been running its MoneySense programme for over 25 years – a free financial education resource for schools, parents & young people aged 5-18 to help improve financial confidence. Since MoneySense began the bank have helped more than 8.9m young people learn about their finances. The bank also offers free Financial Health Checks – a face-to-face, by phone, or by video, confidential service open to customers and non-customers that offers a chance to talk through your money plans with a Senior Personal Banker.
Talk Money Week aims to reduce the stigma around money by encouraging conversations among families, friends, neighbours, customers, colleagues and communities. Talking openly about money can have a huge impact on managing money worries and is important for our overall health and relationships. The impact of Covid-19 has made it more important than ever to start conversations about money to look after our financial wellbeing.
Throughout the week there will be UK wide activity across many organisations to get more people talking about personal finance issues, and engaging with topics such as saving regularly, planning for retirement, dealing with debt, and teaching children and young people about managing money.
NatWest supports the Money and Pensions Service UK strategy for financial wellbeing by committing senior colleagues in the bank to support the MAPS Challenge Group meetings. Meetings have taken place throughout this year to pull together advice and suggestions for achieving the UK Strategy and NatWest is pleased to have input into these conversations.
For more information on Talk Money Week visit www.maps.org.uk/talk-money-week/
