We have
67%(*)
of customers exclusively using digital channels
(*) Within the scope of EY assurance. Refer to our External assurance webpage.
Our mobile app enables our customers to bank whenever, wherever, with 9.8 million(*) of our customers mobile users. We have 10.9 million(*)(1) digitally active retail and business banking customers and 3.5 million(*) customers using the online banking platform. 67%(*) of our active current customers exclusively bank with us using digital channels, through mobile and online.
1) A digitally-active customer is someone who has accessed either their online banking platform or mobile banking app.
(*) Within the scope of EY assurance. Refer to our External assurance webpage.
Our mobile app means NatWest, RBS and Ulster Bank NI customers can bank whenever and wherever they need to. In 2023, we continued to evolve our app to provide even more ways to make it easier for customers to manage their money. Examples include:
For more information on how we have enhanced our mortgage journeys and the launch of our Home Energy Hub, please see page 30 of our 2023 ESG Disclosures Report.
We have continued to digitalise our services to support our Commercial & Institutional customers:
From January 2019 to 31 December 2023, over 5 million customers have used our APIs to access their account information and 2.9 million customers have used our APIs to make a payment – initiating transactions worth over £18.2 billion.
NatWest Group has gone beyond the regulatory requirement for banks to provide Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) and can now offer this alternative payment method to businesses and consumers.
As a result, we have been recognised for this industry-first payment method by winning Best Initiative in Open Banking at the 2023 Card and Payment Awards and were shortlisted for Best Bank & PayTech Partnership at the 2023 PayTech Awards. NatWest Group is the leading UK bank in the 2023 Open Finance Global Rankings.
We won the Financial Services Innovation award at the Scottish Fintech Awards, with our Bank of APIs recognised for supporting the UK’s fintech ecosystem.
In 2023, we had consistently high performance and stability of our most critical systems, which have been available 99.99% of the time. 2023 saw two Criticality 1 incidents, compared with two for 2022 (1, 2). These numbers include all events which had an impact on our operations, not just system issues.
(1) By way of illustration, a Criticality 1 incident could be a loss of key IT systems resulting in an impact to more than 15% of the bank’s customers or an incident that leads to a financial loss of over £10 million.
(2) Availability of our key systems is currently calculated against our Important Business Services – those defined as the most critical.
For more information on how we are digitalising our business, please see our 2023 ESG Disclosures Report.
Read more about how we aim to make our banking more accessible for all our customers.
Read more about how we are committed to ensuring we empower customers to detect and prevent fraud and scams at first point of contact.
Read more about how we support customers who find themselves either in a vulnerable situation or caring for a loved one experiencing a vulnerability.