Retail Banking
We increased our contribution by 14 per cent
to £2,807 million.
Benny Higgins Chief Executive, Retail
Banking
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Above: Lorraine Cane with new house keys, Karl
Daly (Account Manager) and Brian Cane |
The Cane family were one
of the first to take up our new Current Account Mortgage - and since then
they've not only been able to pay off their other loans, but have been able to
make considerable savings on their monthly outgoings as well.
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The Royal Bank of Scotland
This year has seen a 9%
increase in the personal customer base and considerable growth in a wide range
of the Royal Bank’s personal banking products.
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Savings balances grew by 9% aided by new
savings account openings growing by 9%.
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Our mortgage book grew by 15%, with Equity
Release 57% ahead of the prior year after a relaunch of the product and sales
process.
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Current accounts, including youth and
student accounts, increased by 10%, with youth accounts showing a very strong
performance, up 42%.
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Personal loans grew by 11%.
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Insurance product ranges in both the Royal
Bank and NatWest were relaunched during the year.
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We now have over 300,000 Royalties Gold
accounts, accounting for over 16% of our current account base. Total penetration
of packaged accounts has reached 34% of eligible current accounts.
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In business banking, performance was strong
with term lending growing by 21% and Mentor, our in-house employment law and
health and safety consultancy service for SMEs, increasing turnover by 87%,
being just two of the highlights.
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We were a winner in the Management
Today/Unisys Awards for Customer Service in Financial Services, whilst also
being the current holder of the Most Improved Bank Award by the Forum of Private
Banking.
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We launched a unique diploma in Customer
Relationship Management accredited by both Scottish and English Institutes of
Bankers.
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We won the Your Money Direct Award 2001 for
Best Direct Banking Provider, while in a Which? current account survey our
interest paying current account was voted Best Buy, and Royalties Gold achieved
highest satisfaction rating of all packaged accounts. We were also voted No 1
High Street Bank for customer satisfaction in an NOP Survey.
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In November 2001, we launched a new suite of
television adverts aimed at demonstrating the benefits of our Royalties Gold and
R21 products, with another focusing on our commitment and achievements in
delivering best-in-class services. The adverts feature the Bank’s new strapline
of ‘Make it happen’ and support a new creative style adopted across the media.
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A new, improved online banking service,
Digital Banking, was launched to provide easier access for customers, and this
helped the number of customers using online banking to rise by 50% to 509,000.
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Online product sales are now well
established and enjoyed strong growth in 2001. The volume of online savings
accounts more than doubled in the year and the volume of online personal loans
increased by 63%.
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In August 2001, we became one of the first
UK High Street banks to launch a Current Account Mortgage. This is scheduled to
be fully rolled out throughout our branch network by March 2002.
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Approximately 390,000 customers benefited
from a Customer Service Review during 2001, where afull financial review of
their Royal Bank products is undertaken to ensure that customers are making the
most of their money. From research, 96% of customers who had a Customer Service
Review found the advice they were offered was relevant and useful, and 83% would
recommend the service to others.
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Above: Liz Smith (Nursery Owner) and Fiona Smith
(Business Manager) |
After running her own
children's nursery for ten years, Liz Smith is now in the process of opening a
second one with the help of NatWest Retail.
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NatWest
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Revitalisation of the NatWest brand
continues with a committed £150 million investment in NatWest branches and
second place in Campaign of the Year for ‘another way’ in the Money Marketing
Financial Services Awards.
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Our continued investment in NatWest has
resulted in a 6% increase in the number of personal current accounts. Personal
loan balances grew by 17%, savings accounts by 2% and mortgage applications by
48%.
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Home insurance policy sales increased by 19%
while 20% more customers protected their personal loans. There was a 7% increase
in customers travelling with NatWest Travel Insurance and 13% more car owners
insuring their car with NatWest Car Insurance.
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We introduced over 1,200 customer advisers
to help our customers make the most of their money. More than 300,000 Customer
Service Reviews were carried out in 2001.
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Nearly 250,000 of our business customers
used a Business Service Review to help them make the most of their businesses.
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In 2001, NatWest again had the leading
market share of small businesses, 27%, as measured by Taylor Nelson Sofres in a
quarterly survey of 1,000 businesses in England and Wales
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Business lending increased by 16%.
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Enhancements to our Advantage accounts,
including reduced rates on loans, family days out and travel, have increased the
number of accounts held to over 1.3 million – 20% of eligible current accounts.
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An improved online banking service was
relaunched in September – and there was an overall increase in applications for
the service in 2001 of 75% to 893,000.
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The 2001 new student offer and campaign
increased NatWest’s market share of first year student accounts from 18% to 23%.
The overall Group is No 1 and NatWest is No 2 for first year student accounts.
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We were joint winner of the Your Mortgage
Best Direct Lender award.
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