RBS-NatWest extends account switching incentives

Royal Bank of Scotland said on Tuesday it will allow business customers another six months to take advantage of incentives to switch their accounts to other banks.

The incentives are part of the terms of the bank’s state aid package. 

“The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc welcomes today’s announcement from Banking Competition Remedies Limited (BCR) in relation to changes to the Incentivised Switching Scheme (ISS), which forms part of the Alternative Remedies Package,” said RBS in a stock exchange statement.

“As a result of the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, fewer customers have been switching under ISS and these changes are being announced by BCR to preserve the momentum and aims of the ISS.

“Bringing forward these changes now, which might otherwise have been implemented at a later date, provides RBS with greater certainty.

“RBS has entered into an amendment to the 25 April 2018 Framework and State Aid Deed with HM Treasury and BCR, which agreed the following in relation to the duration of the ISS and the scope of customers eligible for the ISS …

“200,000 additional Royal Bank of Scotland plc and National Westminster Bank plc Business Banking customers with turnover of up to £1m will have the opportunity to participate from 25 August 2020 …

“… the duration of the period under the ISS for customers to apply to switch their account will be extended from 25 August 2020 until the end of February 2021 and customers will have until the end of June 2021 to complete the switch …

“These amendments to the ISS do not change the total number of customers targeted to switch under the scheme.

“As a result, there is no material change anticipated to the current financial outlook for RBS.

“The existing requirement on RBS to make a potential further contribution to the ISS, should customer switching be insufficient under the Deed, remains capped at £50m …

“It remains the case that the ISS will terminate at the point the £225m fund for business current account switching has been distributed by BCR, which may be earlier than the dates above.”