Technology Transformation & Innovation
We are continuing to innovate and accelerate our digital transformation. By harnessing new technology and partnering with leading organisations, we are enhancing and evolving our customer experiences. During the period 2021-2023, we’re investing £3 billion, with 80% of that investment spent on digital and technology transformation.
Moving Our Retail Banking App Forward
We continue to evolve our retail mobile app. In 2021 some of our deliveries included:
Building innovation culture and capability
Open Banking and APIs
Our ‘Bankline Direct’ Indirect Payments API allows financial institutions to give their customers 24/7 secure access to faster payment services. That’s possible because of our approach in leveraging API technology and the intelligent use of our data. In 2021 our API processed more than 2.1 million transactions to the value of £4 billion thereby displaying customer trust, resilience, and competitive value. In the same period, we processed 4.8 million transactions of a total value of £2.2 billion Open Banking payments across NatWest Group.
Product innovation for our commercial customers
With a strong track record on innovation, backed by a large and mature ecosystem and through collaborations with experienced and innovative companies, we have driven significant benefits for our customers. For example, Tyl allows merchants to take payments anytime, anywhere with next day settlements as standard – improving the customer’s funding position and through the integration of Tyl with other innovations like Payit and Mettle, we will offer a ‘one bank’ SME and payments proposition.
Our use of artificial intelligence
Our artificial intelligence (AI) virtual assistant Cora, continues to learn and grow, using intelligent automation to provide personalised and contextual support services to our customers 24/7. Cora now also operates with interactive voice response. Customers can speak to Cora and complete requests like pin reminders with many opportunities to come for future conversations. In 2021, Cora handled 10.7 million retail banking conversations, up 27% on the previous year.