2011 Report - NatWest€¦ · · 2012-03-23Welcome to our 2011 Report ... letters and web pages...

Our Customer Charter2011 Report

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Dear Customer,

In 2010 we set ourselves a clear, public goal to become Britain’s most Helpful Bank. Our NatWest and RBS Customer Charter is at the heart of this commitment. It contains a set of specific promises in response to what you, our customers, have told us you want and need from your bank. From the beginning we pledged to be open and honest about our progress and to publish independently assessed reports along the way.

Welcome to our 2011 Report I’m proud of the significant progress we have made in 2011 meeting 23 of our 25 goals. I can say with certainty that today we are a more supportive, accessible and innovative bank than we were 18 months ago, thanks to your feedback and the Customer Charter.

Here are some of the report highlights which stood out for me:

n Reduced queues I’m particularly pleased with how far we’ve come in reducing queues. Across all our branches we served 88% of customers in five minutes, while in our busiest 300 branches we served 82% of our customers within five minutes. This compares to 75% in 2010 and exceeds our original goal of 80%.

n Increased opening hoursWe have made great strides to ensure that our branches are open at times to suit you. We now have more than 1,200 branches open on a Saturday, surpassing our goal of 800. We are also open in 240 of our busiest branches until 6pm every night during the week.

n Transparent literatureWe wanted to make our literature clear and transparent, which is why we originally set out to simplify and rewrite all our branch literature. But we wanted to stretch ourselves further, and in 2011 we’ve rewritten all of our branch literature, letters and web pages to make sure they use plain English.

n Emergency CashThrough our unique Emergency Cash service we helped more than 50,000 customers who had lost their debit card or had it stolen. Our unique and innovative service provides customers with immediate access to their cash through our 4,500 UK cash machines.

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n Supporting the community One of our 2010 goals was to launch a Community Fund to support local charities and projects. The original programme saw over 1,000 charities receiving a share of a £1.75m fund. Following this success we expanded the initiative through CommunityForce and last year more than 470 local charities won support from our £3 million fund.

It’s also been inspiring to see our people supporting local causes personally – with more than 16,000 days volunteered to help local communities, trumping our original target of 10,000 days.

We said at the launch of our Customer Charter that we’d purposely set ourselves challenging, long-term goals in order to push ourselves, and in doing so we were likely to miss some – this year is no exception. We have made progress with our complaint handling, but know we have a way to go before we reach our goal. We continue to work hard on this area. We have changed the way we handle complaints, introduced specific training for our staff and increased the number of dedicated complaint handlers. Importantly, we have worked very hard to understand and fix the root causes of complaints. This effort is beginning to pay off, and in the last six months of 2011 we saw our complaint volumes drop by 22%.

I’m pleased to report that in addition to our success in meeting 23 out of 25 of our Charter goals, we have been recognised by a number of external organisations for the improvements we are making in our service. In 2011 we won awards for our call centres, our new mobile phone apps, our Emergency Cash service as well as more than ten awards for our various products. NatWest also won awards for its branch network and online service.

Finally, thank you for your continued support as a customer. I hope you find the report an interesting read. From the beginning, we said that our Customer Charter would evolve and grow based upon the things you feel are important. Your invaluable feedback will be reflected in our 2012 Customer Charter which we’ll be telling you about very soon. In the meantime, we would be grateful if you could share any comments you have on the results – the easiest way to do this is through our online ‘Ideas Bank’, which can be found at natwest.com/customercharter

Best Wishes

Brian HartzerCEO, NatWest and RBS Retail

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2011 goals

We will continue to open more than 800 branches on Saturdays.

If there is enough local demand, we will continue to have early or late opening in our 200 busiest branches. Every six months, we will review the demand for longer opening hours.

How we did

In 2011 we opened over 840 of our branches every Saturday and in November we increased this to over 1,200.

During 2011, over 200 of our busiest branches were open for longer during the week, either in the mornings or evenings. In November, this figure increased to over 240 and now all these branches are open until at least 6pm every night during the week.

Commitment 1We will extend our opening hours in our busiest branches

Achieved

3

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We are committed to making banking easy

“My local branch does not open on a Saturday in my little village, but other local branches do, they should open more branches on a Saturday.” NW/RBS customer

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2011 goal

We will serve 80% of customers within five minutes in our busiest branches.

How we did

We served 88% of customers in five minutes across all our branches in 2011. In the busiest 300 branches we served 82% in five minutes, up from 75% in 2010.

Commitment 2 We will serve the majority of customers in our branches within five minutes

Achieved

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Achieved

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2011 goal

Nine out of ten customers will rate our service as friendly and helpful.

How we did

Eight out of ten customers rated our service as friendly and helpful. We are working hard to support and train our branch and telephony staff to provide consistently great service and meet this target.

Commitment 3We will provide you with friendly, helpful service whenever you deal with us

“There’s a woman in my local branch who is always very helpful. The personal touch is key.” NW/RBS customer

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2011 goals

All our branch literature, standard letters and key web pages will be simplified and rewritten to reflect customers’ feedback.

We will continue to send Personal Account Statements to over 1 million current account customers.

How we did

We have rewritten all of our branch literature, letters and main product web pages making them simpler and more transparent for customers. These were all in use by the end of 2011, except for some credit card letters. These were rewritten by the end of the year and sent to customers from 20 January.

We sent Personal Account Statements to over 1 million customers in 2011, giving them a full overview of their account activity and making recommendations on how they could make their money work harder.

Commitment 4We will help you to make the right choices for you and your money, providing a clear product range with simply explained features and charges

Achieved

3

3

“This really makes you think they are listening to the customer – that they have their customers interest at heart.” NW/RBS customer

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2011 goals

We will ensure our telephone banking centres are available to help you 100% of the time, always giving you the option to speak to a real person based in the UK.

We will answer 90% of all incoming calls in less than a minute.

How we did

All our telephone banking centres remain in the UK and are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Every customer has an option to talk to our staff anytime they want.

We answered 90% of customer telephone calls in less than a minute.

Commitment 5We will provide a 24/7 telephone banking service from our UK-based call centres

Achieved

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“UK-based call centres and immediate service are important – we are all in a rush nowadays.” NW/RBS customer

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We are committed to helping when you need us

2011 goals

We will provide free, market-leading, enhanced security software for all online users.

If you become a victim of fraud when banking with us online or on your mobile phone, we promise to refund in full any money taken from your account. This is in accordance with our security promise, published online.

How we did

We have continued to provide free security software to our customers and it has been downloaded over 1.6 million times in the last 12 months. There have been no incidents of online fraud for customers using this software.

In line with our security promise, we have refunded every customer who had money taken from their accounts fraudulently when banking with us online or on their mobile.

Commitment 6We will work with you to keep you safe when you bank with us online or using your mobile phone

Achieved

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2011 goals

We will despatch replacements for all lost and stolen debit cards the next working day.

We will offer free, 24/7 access to cash to customers whose debit cards are lost or stolen.

How we did

We sent over 1.4 million replacement debit cards to customers the next working day after the loss or theft of their card. There was an exception in January, when two cards took an extra day. There were nearly 35,000 customers who needed a new PIN in addition to a new card. The PINs were sent within 24 hours and the cards a day later in line with our security policy.

More than 50,000 customers, who had lost their debit card or had it stolen, used our unique Emergency Cash service. The service provides immediate access to a customer’s cash through our UK ATMs.

Commitment 7We will help you quickly if your debit card is lost or stolen and you need access to cash

Achieved

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2011 goals

We will not provide credit-limit increases if we know you are struggling to meet payments on your credit card.

We will have a dedicated support team to look for signs that customers are falling into financial difficulty and to see what we can do to help.

We will send text messages to customers who have registered for Act Now Alerts, helping them take action to avoid current account charges.

We will support first-time buyers by continuing to offer mortgages for up to 90% of the property’s value, and by keeping offers open for up to six months.

How we did

During 2011 we did not increase credit limits for any customers who were struggling to meet their existing credit card payments.

Last year, our team of over 80 support staff spoke to more than 190,000 customers facing financial difficulty and provided them with help and guidance on ways to reduce their debt.

In 2011 we sent more than 2.6 million Act Now Alert messages to over 980,000 customers, giving them time to move their money into their current account and so avoid charges.

Throughout 2011 we continued to offer mortgages of up to 90% for first-time buyers and, since May, these offers have been valid for six months rather than the usual three. Overall we lent £2.2bn to first-time buyers in 2011 with more than £750m lent through our 90% offer.

Commitment 8We will continue to be a responsible lender and are committed to finding new ways to help

Achieved

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“I thought it was helpful when they sent me a text to let me know when money was coming out of my account.” NW/RBS customer

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We are committed to supporting the communities we work in

2011 goals

We will maintain banking services wherever we are the last bank in town.

We will continue to serve more than 300 communities with our mobile banks.

How we did

We have remained open in all 168 locations where we are the last bank in town.We have listened to customer feedback and we have clarified the definition of this goal for 2012. In August we reported that we had been forced to close one branch. After further investigation we found the town had two other banks, so this year we have not actually closed any last banks in town.

We have 19 mobile banks travelling more than 7,000 miles a week to serve over 400 remote communities.

Commitment 9We pledge to stay open for business if we are the last bank in town, and we will consider a range of options to ensure a local banking service is available

Achieved

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2011 goal

We will continue to make MoneySense materials available to all schools and will deliver 25,000 MoneySense lessons.

How we did

During 2011 we continued to support financial education in schools by providing over 34,000 MoneySense lessons reaching more than 380,000 pupils.In addition, free MoneySense materials are available online for all schools to use.

Commitment 10We will provide young people with financial education through our independently accredited MoneySense programme

Achieved

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“I think education for banking is essential. The words financial education stand out to me.”NW/RBS customer

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2011 goals

Building on the Community Fund, we will create a new initiative – CommunityForce – to support local communities by donating time, expertise and money (£3m) in 2011.

We will allow all our staff a day for local volunteering. We will deliver 10,000 days of community volunteer work in 2011.

How we did

We launched CommunityForce in July 2011 and, by the end of the year more than 470 winning charities and projects received their share of our £3m fund.

In 2011 our staff used their day of paid leave to provide more than 16,000 days worth of support to charities and good causes in their local communities.

Commitment 11We will actively support the local communities in which we live and work

Achieved

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2011 goal

75% of our customers will be satisfied with the way their complaint has been handled.

How we did

In 2011, 59% of our customers who complained were satisfied with how their complaint was handled. This is an area we want to improve, and to that end we have changed the way we handle complaints, including introducing specific training for our staff and increasing the number of dedicated complaint handlers. In addition, we continue to make progress in driving down the causes of complaints. This is working: In the last six months of 2011 complaint volumes dropped by 22% compared to the first six months of the year.

Commitment 12We will resolve customer complaints fairly, consistently and promptly

Achieved

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“I don’t think that 75% satisfaction for complaints is good enough. It should be a bit more ambitious.” NW/RBS customer

We are committed to listening to you

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2011 goal

Twice a year we will publish the five most common complaints.

How we did

Fixing the causes of complaints remains a priority for us. We are addressing the five most common complaints in the following ways:

1. Payment Protection InsuranceWe have not sold payment protection insurance products for over a year, and indeed stopped selling so-called ‘single premium’ products in 2008. To deal with complaints we have employed additional staff to ensure customers receive a fair outcome. In October we also introduced a text service to help customers see the progress of their complaint. By the end of the year we had sent over 70,000 messages.

2. Charges on current accountsWe want to help customers avoid charges whenever possible. Our text alert services are designed to help customers manage their money better. We have contacted 4 million customers about our Act Now Alerts and just under 1 million are making use of this service regularly. You can find out more by visiting natwest.com/alerts

Commitment 13Twice a year we will publish the most common complaints and strive to address the causes

Achieved

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3. Credit card feesWe have clarified our payment timescales and trained our staff to help customers avoid late fees wherever possible.

4. Complaints about staff knowledgeThe biggest cause of this complaint area is our staff not providing information about charges and how to avoid them. So we have created a new system to give staff easy access to the information they need. From January 2012 we have been monitoring the service our staff give individually so we can identify and address any specific issues locally and quickly.

5. Collections processesOur collections team are now assessed on how well they have listened and helped customers to understand their repayment agreements. During 2011 we also simplified the repayment plans, which will be widely available from March.

How we did

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2011 goal

We will continue our customer listening programme to ensure that our staff, including executives, hear first-hand about the needs and frustrations of our customers.

To ensure our commitments stay relevant, we will research them every year with a representative panel of customers.

How we did

We have held nearly 40 events in 2011, bringing together customers and staff to discuss topics such as complaints and the helpfulness of our staff. We are using the results to make changes so we become a more Helpful Bank.In addition, we continue to run large regular surveys to understand customers’ views. This year, more than 390,000 customers have taken part in these.

In September we asked more than 2,000 people what they thought about the content of the Charter and what else they would like to see included. We have used their responses to shape the commitments for the 2012 Customer Charter.

Commitment 14We will actively seek your thoughts and suggestions on how we can become more helpful

Achieved

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“Talk is cheap. What matters is the action.” NW/RBS customer

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You can find out more about the terms and definitions in our report at natwest.com/2011basisofreporting

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Independent assurance statement by Deloitte LLP (‘Deloitte’) to The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc (‘RBS’) on the Customer Charter Report 2011 (‘Customer Charter Report’) for the 12 months ended 31 December 2011.

What we looked at: scope of assurance workRBS has engaged us to perform limited assurance procedures on the “Achieved” status of the 25 goals set out in the Customer Charter Report for RBS and NatWest Retail Bank for the period 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011.

What we did: assurance process and standardsEngagement assurance standardsWe conducted our work in accordance with the International Standard on Assurance Engagements 3000 (ISAE 3000) issued by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) for carrying out assurance engagements on non-financial information.

This is a limited assurance engagement, which is designed to give a similar level of assurance to that obtained in a review of interim financial information. A limited assurance procedures engagement excludes procedures such as testing of source data and operating effectiveness of controls

and is substantially less in scope than a reasonable assurance engagement. Accordingly we do not provide reasonable assurance on those matters specified in this statement.

Assurance proceduresLimited assurance standard requires that we review the systems, processes and controls that deliver the performance data and results.

Our work consisted primarily of making inquiries of company personnel and carrying out analytical procedures and sample tests as follows:

understanding, analysing and testing on a sample basis the collation, validation and reporting of the performance data by RBS in accordance with their definitions and basis for calculation which can be found at natwest.com/2011basisofreporting; and

reading and analysing the content of the Report against the findings of our work, industry practices and other relevant information and, as necessary, making recommendations for improvement.

Deloitte Assurance Statement

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What we found: our conclusionsNothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the “Achieved” status of the 25 Goals as set out in the Customer Charter Report 2011 which we were engaged to provide assurance on are materially misstated.

Roles and responsibilitiesRBS’s responsibilities The Directors are responsible for the preparation of the

Customer Charter Report and for the information and statements contained within it. They are responsible for determining the Customer Charter goals, performance and for establishing and maintaining appropriate performance management and internal control systems from which the reported information is derived.

Deloitte’s responsibilities and independence Our responsibility is to independently express a conclusion

on the Customer Charter Report as defined within the scope of work above to The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc in accordance with our letter of engagement. Our work has been undertaken so that we might state to RBS those matters we are required to state to them in this statement and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than RBS for our work, for this statement, or for the conclusions we have formed.

Deloitte LLPLondon14 February 2012

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National Westminster Bank Plc, 135 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 3UR. Registered Number: 929027, England.

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2011 Report - NatWest€¦ · · 2012-03-23Welcome to our 2011 Report ... letters and web pages...

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