Free financial advice for all - Natwests 'impartial' moneysense programme

[natweststaffmember]

Free financial advice for all - Scotsman.com Business


Published Date: 11 December 2008
THE Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is to start offering free financial guidance to everyone, including customers of other banks and people without bank accounts, it has announced.

Branches in Leith, Portobello, Davidson's Mains, Musselburgh, Prestonpans and Armadale will be among those offering the MoneySense service, giving people the chance to speak with independently trained advisors.

Over 2009, RBS plans to invest £4 million in MoneySense to increase the financial awareness of the public.

Be careful if you comment on this article...

[Amethyst]

Re: Free financial advice for all

Be careful if you comment on this article...

says it all really doesn't it tsk.

[natweststaffmember]

Re: Free financial advice for all

The red bit, is my comment and is not in the original article.

[enaid]

Re: Free financial advice for all

Seen the tv ad, my god a tv ad, you would think they had money to burn.
If they listened to what the consumer really wants from a bank, they could have saved them selves a lot of tv ad money. They could have helped quite a few in 'Hardship' and gotten them selves some public respect back. They won't do it with silly bloody tv ads IMHO.

[natweststaffmember]

Re: Free financial advice for all

There was a bit of the news article they did not cover. So maybe I should explain

Bank offers free money advice

3 days ago
NatWest has unveiled plans to offer free financial guidance to people through its branches regardless of whether or not they are customers of the bank.
The bank's MoneySense programme will give people access to advisers in 1,000 of its branches.
The advisers have been trained by independent debt charity the Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) and their service is not linked to the sale of products.
Instead they will offer guidance on budgeting, helping people prioritise their outgoings, helping people create savings plans and giving general guidance on how financial products work.
The group, which is part of Royal Bank of Scotland, believes it is the first high street bank to offer free impartial advice to anyone, including customers with other banks and people without a bank account.
The UK-wide launch of the service follows a pilot in Manchester in May this year and in five London branches during the past eight weeks.
Gordon Pell, chairman of regional markets at Royal Bank of Scotland Group, said: "Bringing MoneySense in-branch through our newly-trained advisers and working with CCCS makes sense in the current climate and is a natural extension of our heritage in this area.
"We already have 60,000 adults per month accessing money guidance on our website and over 110,000 impartial Money Guides picked up in branch since the start of this year."
Malcolm Hurlston, chairman of CCCS, said: "There are times in life when everybody needs free, accessible and impartial financial guidance. Bank branches are the traditional trusted source and we welcome the opportunity to be part of RBS/NatWest's groundbreaking initiative."
He added that the project was an important step for CCCS in broadening its reach from helping people in debt to helping them with their finances generally


The Press Association: Bank offers free money advice


Are you suggesting that the Consumer Credit Counselling Service wasted their time training them?

[Tools]

Re: Free financial advice for all

Are you suggesting that the Consumer Credit Counselling Service wasted their time training them?

Are you suggesting that the RBS group are doing this out of the goodness of their own hearts with no ulterior motive?

[natweststaffmember]

Re: Free financial advice for all

Tools, if it was a targetted job, I would have posted about it. It has been the case for some time that RBS Group have been consulting with Consumer Groups, and so, this is certainly about HMT money and some of the strings attached but it is also about a change of CEO of the Group.
Stephen Hester is not Sir Fred Goodwin and he is certainly a different kettle of fish.

[Amethyst]

Re: Free financial advice for all

The red bit, is my comment and is not in the original article.

pmsl yes thank for pointing that out dear :santa3:

If people think there won't be sales targets attached to this 'impartial advice' well....:hohoho:

[natweststaffmember]

Re: Free financial advice for all

Amethyst, you do not believe how much I will enjoy telling you this. THERE IS NO SALES TARGETS ATTACHED TO THE ROLE. Nada. There is no target whatsoever.

[Tools]

Re: Free financial advice for all

I may arrange an appointment, purely for research purposes

[natweststaffmember]

Re: Free financial advice for all

If the local branch has what is called a "Moneysense" advisor then by all means do so.

[Amethyst]

Re: Free financial advice for all

Press Releases

OVER 1,000 NATWEST BRANCHES TO OFFER FREE, IMPARTIAL FINANCIAL GUIDANCE TO EVERYONE

11th December 2008:

• Impartial MoneySense Advisers, trained by leading charity, Consumer Credit Counselling Service, to offer free financial guidance to all
• Impartial service leads the way for banks to offer help with money matters in branches
• 69% of respondents from NatWest pilot said they would choose face to face help with money matters ahead of online money guidance (10%)
• The MoneySense roles are completely focused on helpful guidance, and are not linked to endorsing or selling products
• Service builds on NatWest's 15 year heritage of working with UK schools to provide financial education

NatWest today announced that from this Friday (12 December), it will be the first high street bank to offer free, impartial financial guidance to everyone, including customers of other banks and people without bank accounts. The MoneySense service will provide the opportunity to speak with independently trained advisers in 1,000 NatWest branches across the country where more than 2.2m people interact with bank staff every week. The money guidance available is not linked to sales of products and is completely impartial.
To further ensure impartiality, the Bank is currently strengthening the MoneySense advisory board by inviting influential leaders from educational organisations, charities and other independent bodies to participate.
Through 2009 RBSG will invest an additional £4m in MoneySense. This reflects the importance that RBSG places on heightening efforts to increase financial capability and inclusion through the economic downturn.
Leading charity, Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) has been working with NatWest providing intensive training to 1,000 advisers from the bank's customer service officers who are completely service oriented and not linked to selling products. From 13 December 2008, these advisers will be on hand to impart guidance to customers across the country on a wide range of money management questions, including;

• Guidance on basic budgets and budgeting skills
• Help with prioritising outgoings and expenses
• Working with customers on savings plans
• General, impartial guidance on how financial products work

The UK-wide launch builds on a successful MoneySense project completed in Manchester in May 2008 and a pilot in five branches in London over the last eight weeks. The pilot saw advisers offering money guidance to hundreds of customers ranging from students to families and business people.
The MoneySense advisers were nominated for the roles by their region, based on their exceptional service-oriented skills. These 1,000 advisers went on independent training with leading debt charity, Consumer Credit Counselling Service to prepare them for their new roles. In total, the 1,000 MoneySense advisers across the country will have undergone 8,000 hours of bespoke training on offering impartial financial guidance to customers. These roles are completely focused on helpful guidance and are not linked to endorsing or selling products.
Gordon Pell, Chairman, Regional Markets at Royal Bank of Scotland Group said:
"Bringing MoneySense in-branch through our newly-trained advisers and working with CCCS makes sense in the current climate and is a natural extension of our heritage in this area. We already have 60,000 adults per month accessing money guidance on our website and over 110,000 impartial Money Guides picked up in branch since the start of this year. During the pilots most people told us that they would look for help at their bank and with over 2 million people coming into our branches each week, this environment seems a natural fit for the MoneySense Adviser service."
"Our customers want Back-to-Basics banking, building on traditional relationships with local branches, and access to impartial advice, helping them navigate their way through the challenges of the current economic climate."
Malcolm Hurlston, Chairman of the Consumer Credit Counselling Service commented:
"There are times in life when everybody needs free, accessible and impartial financial guidance. Bank branches are the traditional trusted source and we welcome the opportunity to be part of RBS/NatWest's groundbreaking initiative. Where better to find impartial advice than in a familiar branch setting?
"For CCCS this is an important first step in broadening our reach from helping Britons in debt to helping people with the whole of their financial lives, first face to face and then online. Our training division is fast and efficient and ready to support."
Local Help on Money Matters
Carol Simpson, who lives in Cheam, Surrey, has been retired for two years and has found herself on a relatively tight budget. Carol met with MoneySense adviser Elaine Parker in the NatWest Sutton branch.
Carol said: "With a change in my circumstances it has been a while since I revised how I'm managing my budget. To be honest, I am still managing my money as I did when I was working. As well as drawing up a new budget, Elaine suggested I look into benefits like winter fuel allowance and a free bus pass which I had not considered. I'm really glad this service was offered to me. I've realised I had standing orders for subscriptions I no longer use and that has helped me save a little something I can put towards Christmas presents for my eight grandchildren."
MoneySense TV Campaign
To heighten awareness of independent money guidance available and underlining the commitment NatWest has made in this area, the Bank has made a significant investment in a television advertising campaign, shot in branches using MoneySense advisers and real customers to illustrate the help available. This will air for the first time on the 12th December
Today's announcement builds on two recent moves by RBS/NatWest designed to directly help consumers and businesses:

• 1 December 2008 - RBS/NatWest will give customers who have fallen behind on mortgage repayments six months' breathing space before instigating repossession proceedings
• 24 November 2008 - RBS/NatWest announced that it will freeze overdraft charges for small businesses for one year, from 1st December 2008 as well as committing to continue to guarantee small business overdrafts for 12 months.

[Amethyst]

Re: Free financial advice for all

''In total, the 1,000 MoneySense advisers across the country will have undergone 8,000 hours of bespoke training on offering impartial financial guidance to customers.''


oooooooo 8 hours training...well done. And the impartial 'advisors' are current RBS sales staff who have taken the 8 hours training.

Apparently they aren't allowed to recommend any products - I can't see them advising people to shut their account and go to the post office can you?

[natweststaffmember]

Re: Free financial advice for all

Just to be clear, they will not be offering advice as to how to reclaim bank charges or credit card charges or missold PPI
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8 hours is better than 0 hours of training and that training would have been in consultation with CCCS.
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TCF training or rather testing took approximately, 3 minutes and 5 questions and that is Treating Customers Fairly so 8 hours is pretty good in comparison.

[Amethyst]

Re: Free financial advice for all

ridiculous.

I've done more than 8 hours on the Consumer credit act and i still know sod all.

the example they give is daft too...best they could come up with is a lady had a couple magazine subscriptions she'd forgotten to cancel on her DD list - whoop.

Sorry Nats, I don't buy it for a second.