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News & Blog

News stories from the Chamber and related news are listed in the table below

Update from RBS Covid Support to date

18th May 2020

I am writing to update you on the latest actions the bank is taking to support customers and colleagues during this challenging period.  

This week, we confirmed that 50 young people from less advantaged backgrounds will join us in October for our Social Mobility Apprenticeship Programme and 170 interns will take part in virtual learning activities over the summer. Usually these young people would work in our offices learning from current employees but Coronavirus has made that impossible. However, we have adapted the courses and are going ahead as planned.  

Personal Banking Support

We continue to provide our customers and communities with relevant advice and support to help protect themselves against coronavirus scams and promote the “5 signs of financial abuse to look out for”.  

This week, we launched Island Saver, a free educational video game aimed at 7-12-year olds, which harnesses enthusiasm for video games to provide money management lessons. Research shows the majority of UK parents believe video games improve children’s knowledge in areas like technology (70%), engineering (53%) and maths (52%) and the game incorporates teachings around “work to earn”, saving, taxation, borrowing and foreign exchange.

Finally, our fee-free cash delivery service, that is available through our dedicated over 70s and isolated support lines, has now securely delivered over £800,000 to customers across the UK.

Business Banking Support

We have seen a significant level of initial interest in the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) and, as of May 10th, approved 56,331 applications with a cumulative value of £1.8bn.

We continue to process a significant number of CBILS and have approved more than 11,144 applications with a total value of more than £2bn (as of May 10th). Additionally, we have approved CLBILS loans with a cumulative value of £95 million over the same time period.  

The bank has received c45,000 capital repayment holiday requests, agreed more than 6,200 new overdrafts and supported customers with a £5bn Coronavirus Working Capital Fund. On CCFF, the bank has facilitated more than £4.92bn from the total £17.68bn purchases by the Bank of England.  

We have focused all resource possible at these schemes and are working to support customers 24/7 with them. We’re also very mindful of the ensuring that we do all we can to protect ourselves and taxpayers against fraud, so we have worked hard to ensure that we take measures such as removing duplicates from BBLs applications so as not to increase the Government’s liability.

For our colleagues, following the updated guidance, we will continue to support them working from home wherever possible.

Please feel free to contact me if I can ever help at all.

Kind regards,

Malcolm Buchanan

Managing Director, Corporate & Commercial Banking Scotland & Chairman, Scotland Board

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