New Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Ross McEwan promises changes to the way the bank does business. The new chief executive claims that RBS will switch to a customer service-focused model in response to a “seismic shift” in the way bank customers are using RBS’s services.
The number of people using bank branches for common transactions has decreased by more than 30 per cent in the past three years. Customers are increasingly turning to ATMs and online banking systems for inter-account transfers and other formerly common branch banking tasks.
In response to the changes in the way people interact with their banks, RBS plans to invest more than £30 million in new-generation cash machines. The new machines will be designed in partnership with NCR in Dundee.
The changes to consumer-focused banking are part of a large-scale chance in RBS’s business strategy. The company plans to modernise its customer service in order to deliver better service to its retail banking customers. As well as new cash machines, the bank will open several 24-hour banking centres in busy areas of Edinburgh.
Mr McEwan believes that RBS needs to change its focus from internal problems and scandals to its customers. The bank plans to increase its range of everyday banking services and focus on adding additional facilities for customers in order to improve their experiences.
Despite the large planned changes to RBS’s consumer banking services, Mr McEwan has promised not to disrupt the “safety and soundness” that had been established by his predecessor within the bank, Stephen Hester. RBS was bailed out by the British taxpayer at an immense expense and has since focused on refocusing its business.
Commenting on the bank’s obligations to the British public, Mr McEwan noted that it was “clear that RBS has a special obligation to the people” and that the Scottish bank must “never put the country in that position ever again.”
