Dubbed ‘School Money – the school bank from RBS and Natwest’, the banks will be set up in eligible primary and secondary schools to be run by their own pupils.
All recruited students will receive cashier training from bank staff, allowing pupils to open and pay money into an account. The banks will be open daily, weekly or monthly according to the needs of the individual school.
The program is designed to provide students with experience in numeracy via a practical approach and in managing personal finance as well as installing the ethos of saving from an early age.
Research conducted by RBS indicates that two-thirds of 14 to 18 year olds from low-income areas have never received any form of financial education, after the introduction of financial capability onto the National Curriculum six years ago. Furthermore, two fifths of the youngsters say they would like to receive more.
RBS and Natwest’s Face2Face with Finance and Financial Capability program for schools, with the aim to help people to understand and manage their finances better, has invested GBP32.5 million since 1994. Over 260,000 young people benefited from the program last year.
Initially, only 100 schools will be given this opportunity but RBS will increase this number if needed to accept non-inner city school applications.
