Increase in banks opening on Saturdays

The Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns NatWest, has recently announced that it will be opening more RBS and NatWest branches on Saturdays in order to increase convenience for customers. According to reports customer demand has resulted in the bank planning to almost double the number of branches open on Saturdays.

Almost 40% of branches will now be open on a Saturday, which equates to over 880 NatWest and RBS branches. Opening times will usually be ten in the morning and the RBS branches will close at two in the afternoon, whilst NatWest branches will remain open until three in the afternoon.

A senior official at NatWest said: ‘For us, it is vital that customers are able to go about their banking in the most convenient way, however they choose to deal with us, be it through branches, over the phone, using ATMs or via the internet. We believe in convenient banking for our customers and almost 70% of our customers define convenience as “branches being open when I need them”. We’ve responded accordingly.’

Another banking official said: ‘Saturday is the busiest day on the High Street and many of our customers have told us that this is the most convenient time for them to drop in to a branch. Although we offer 24-hour banking through our phone and internet bank, there are occasions when customers want to speak to someone face to face.’