Sustainability
Society
Financial wellbeing

Lady in green top and glasses teaching a class

Financial Wellbeing

Our ambition is to support the financial wellbeing of our customers and communities and to turn possibilities into progress. By working to create a society which is financially confident and resilient, we want to empower people to take control of their finances and their futures, and to make the most of their money.

Digital tools supporting financial wellbeing

We offer a range of digital tools and features that can support customers to improve their financial wellbeing. We offer customers personalised coaching plans based on their unique financial situation, and highlight in-app tools such as Savings Goals, Round Ups and Know Your Credit Score.

These tools have been at the centre of our approach to supporting customer financial wellbeing, and have been fundamental to our ambition. For example, in 2025 our Digital Regular Saver helped over 1.8 million customers build savings habits.

In 2024, we exceeded our ambition to help seven million people manage their financial wellbeing. Following this, we no longer separately report this figure, as supporting financial wellbeing through our digital tools and features is now embedded across our strategy.

People reached through our Financial Foundations workshops

31,000

participants across 1,500 workshops in 2025.

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Young people reached through our NatWest Thrive programme

1m

young people in 2025

80% of young people reported a positive change in behaviour towards their financial wellbeing after participating in NatWest Thrive.

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In 2023, we signed the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) Savings Charter - reinforcing our commitment to helping customers build financial resilience and make the most of their money.

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Financial education programmes

Two key programmes, NatWest Thrive and Financial Foundations, remain central to our work to improve financial wellbeing among our customers and communities.

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Financial Foundations workshops

Following a successful pilot last year, Financial Foundations was expanded in 2025 to reach communities across the UK. This programme aims to help people make the most of their money and take control of their financial future through free, in-person, impartial money guidance workshops and a range of digital tools and resources. We expanded the programme through our Commercial & Institutional customers, helping to support employee financial wellbeing and, in turn, enhance engagement, productivity and retention.

Financial Foundations supports adults at all life stages, equipping them to develop financial resilience, plan for their future and protect against fraud and scams. Delivering workshops in-person allows us to reach individuals within their local communities and workplaces, where it is accessible and convenient. Evaluation of the pilot improved and refined content and delivery and helped us understand the need for money guidance. Ongoing monitoring from post-survey data demonstrates participants feel more confident managing their money.

We are now aiming to support 50,000 people with free financial education in 2026, in their workplaces and communities.

Video transcript

As an adult, navigating the financial landscape can be a really difficult task, especially with the rising cost of living. And I think there can be a stigma attached to having those types of conversations.

I've looked after the bank's relationship with West Granton Housing Cooperative for around about a year. Hi, good to see you. West Grant and Housing Co-op is very similar to a housing association except that all the tenants are members.

So, they have a say in how the co-op is run, what services it provides, and they have a say in in the neighbourhood in which they live. It was Jamie who actually proposed the idea of the foundation workshops to us.

Hello. Lovely to see everybody today. Financial Foundations is a bank's financial well-being program of free and impartial money guidance workshop designed to help adults take control of their finances.

Gary and I deliver financial foundation workshops. We tend to be in the local community a lot meeting different people, different walks of life, an opportunity to educate the public and the community on how to keep themselves safe and secure. And times are hard for everybody. They're now everywhere. I've seen it firsthand with my own family. um the struggles from neighbours and friends like I I didn't like talking about my money because recently I had to become a carrier and so you have to apply for benefits.

It's really important to get the financial well-being element off it. We have conversations about if you've got money worries or you've got worries around money then it really impacts your mental health and then everything else manifests on the back of that.

Victoria, hello. Hi. Financial foundations for me was really helpful. It was way to manage my money by budgeting um seeking support networks that help you being a single parent and where the money is best spent organizations that can help with the essentials. The session was really nice. It was nice to be with people who are in the same boat and struggle and know feel embarrassed. They make it really easy for you to understand that and I would definitely be going back because the more you see the more you learn.

Well, thank you very much. The sessions align very much with um our core values, but when you start delivering things in person to people, I think that's where you're really touching and making a difference.

Tenants may not be the Royal Bank of Scotland customers, but they've still benefited from insights, ideas, and tips free of charge in those in those workshops. So what they've done for our community is immeasurable really.

Children participating in a MoneySense session

NatWest Thrive

For over 30 years, we have run programmes to help young people grow their financial confidence. In 2025, we brought together several of these long-standing programmes – MoneySense, Dream Bigger and CareerSense – into a single free educational programme called NatWest Thrive.

NatWest Thrive provides bite-sized learning content for teachers, parents and youth workers. To connect with young people, we use relatable role models and real-life scenarios that help money matters and careers feel relevant. For example, we have drawn on our partnerships with Team GB and Paralympics GB to bring in athlete ambassadors to inspire young people to take steps to shape the future they want.

Supporting financial resilience

We’re committed to helping more people to save – especially those who may find it harder to get started. As part of this commitment, we have partnered with the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS) by signing up to their UK Savings Charter. The Charter aims to build a nation of savers and increase awareness of the importance of savings in the UK.

NatWest Group offers a suite of savings tools and products designed to support a range of short, medium, and long-term goals. We recognise that saving isn’t one-size-fits-all, so our tools help customers to learn more about how to build savings habits, set achievable goals, chose the right savings accounts for their needs, and build financial security over time.

Supporting access and building confidence

Banking facilities for all

Through our Banking Facilities For All (BFFA) initiative, we support UK residents who face difficulties in providing traditional identification documents. These customers are typically refugees, individuals experiencing homelessness, those fleeing abuse and prison leavers. Through BFFA, we are working to end barriers to opening an account by accepting alternative forms of identification.

We actively support the UK Says No More campaign by offering Safe Spaces in 268 of our branches. These locations provide a private room for individuals experiencing domestic abuse to access a phone and contact support discreetly. Our colleagues have received specialist training on Safe Spaces and domestic abuse awareness.

Basic current accounts

We provide a basic personal current account, known as a Foundation account, which provides basic banking with no fees or credit access for those with poor or no credit history. In 2025, we supported 860,000 customers with Foundation accounts compared to 883,000 in 2024.

Credit products and access to short-term borrowing

We offer financial products to support a wide range of customers and communities. In 2025, we looked to continue strengthening our accessible banking proposition, launching a new product to improve access to credit: the Credit Builder Credit Card. It is designed to help people boost their credit score and to start borrowing in a responsible, supportive way, with low credit limits and rewards to establish healthy repayment behaviour. We also offer affordable credit options like overdrafts and credit card instalment plans, supported with tools that help customers borrow responsibly. In 2025, 420,000 instalment plans were set up compared to 372,000 in 2024.

Customer support and debt management

We communicate with customers who may be struggling financially and provide them with access to a dedicated Financial Health and Support Team who offer specialist support and bespoke treatments. In 2025, we answered over 600,000 calls, sent over 5 million communications, and had over 500,000 digital engagements with our most financially vulnerable customers. Our communications signpost customers to tools and support to help improve their financial position.

If a customer contacts us, we have a wide range of tailored solutions available to support them. We suppress interest on overdrafts at 32 days in excess and where customers miss payments on secured or unsecured debt, we give customers the flexibility to spread the repayment of missed payments over up to two years. Also, in 2025 we removed unpaid direct debit fees for mortgage customers to align with loans and credit cards.

Financial Health Checks

Our Senior Personal Bankers provide free reviews of finances for personal and business customers, supporting them to understand which products or services could help them progress towards their financial goals. We provided assisted Financial Health Checks to 307,000 Retail Banking customers in 2025, compared with 321,000 in 2024.