RBS details brand revamp to become ‘most trusted’ bank by 2020
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has set itself the target of being the “most trusted” bank in the UK by 2020, one of several measures the state-owned banking group has outlined today (27 February) aimed at “serving customers better”.
In an announcement this morning entitled “a new direction”, the Natwest and RBS brand owner says it wants its customers “to trust us more, and to do more business with us”.
It does not say, however, how trust levels will be measured or clarify how it intends to gauge and achieve its other stated aim of becoming the “number one bank for customer service”.
The bank’s chief executive Ross McEwan is expected to announce further details at an event in London later today.
It does, however, outline several measures aimed at “putting customers at the core” of its operations including offering the same rates to customers online and in-branch and ending incentives and “teaser rates” to new customers not offered to existing customers. It also vows to stop “confusing customers with complicated language they cannot understand” adding it aims to fit charges information on one side of A4 in “simple language”.
The announcements come as RBS, which is 81 per cent owned by the government, posted an £8.2bn loss for 2013. It is the bank’s sixth annual loss since its £46bn taxpayer bailout during the 2008 financial crisis, which crippled customer trust in the brand.
The state-backed lender’s bid to reginite faith in the brand echoes the efforts outlined by Barclays earlier this month (11 February). The bank is ramping up plans to demonstrate the brand’s “values and purpose” after revealing it had made “significant” progress in rebuilding trust among customers following the LIBOR rate rigging scandal.
