The business world has been transformed in the months since coronavirus hit - and banks have had to change with it.
Once the scale of the 海角视频 coronavirus epidemic became clear, the business world turned upside down almost instantly, and high streets emptied.
Banks, particularly those like NatWest with large branch networks, also had to adapt quickly to a very changed country.
Business customers were scrabbling for support and poring over details of new Government lending schemes- while with bank branches closed, customers also had to find new ways of doing their finances.
Along with other high street banks, NatWest had to transform the way it worked as the pandemic hit - and has continued to adapt as local economies have weaved in and out of lockdown.
We spoke to two key NatWest leaders in London and the South East to discuss how the bank had been changed by the pandemic - and about what comes next.
How business was affected - and how banks had to adapt
Rachel Blackamore is managing director for personal banking in London and the South East for NatWest - and is chair of the bank鈥檚 regional board. She spoke to BusinessLive with Sarah Bilby, who is managing director for business banking in the region, and also a member of the bank鈥檚 regional board.
Central London was hardest hit at the start of the pandemic because the area was almost completely locked down. And even as lockdowns have lifted, the centre of the capital remains quiet as so many people who would normally be in its offices are instead working from home and hospitality remains subdued.
While Ms Bilby and Ms Blackamore鈥檚 region may be centred on London, it鈥檚 a diverse patch including towns and rural areas - so the crisis has hit different parts of the area in different ways.
That is reflected in the NatWest PMI economic surveys, where the South East has outperformed London in its recovery from Covid.
Ms Bilby said: 鈥淢any businesses have been affected in very different ways.
鈥淪o if you think about the smaller end of the market, the newsagents have done incredibly well, because people started using them more than perhaps other stores. Whereas obviously gyms and retail, the hospitality sector has been massively impacted.
鈥淓very business is individual, every customer has their own needs and requirements. And some of them have to pivot more than others. So when takeaways were able to open some restaurants were able to pivot to deliveries and doing something very, very different.鈥
The Government鈥檚 business support offering served as lifelines to many businesses, but put pressure on the banks and financial institutions that had to deliver many of them.
Ms Bilby said: 鈥淭he CBILS loan scheme, obviously, was a massive undertaking. We've never seen so much lending. We had to design new products, because the government set out the parameters of what they wanted.
鈥淏ut of course, then we had to design something, a complete product in the background, that could be as digital as possible.鈥
Behind the scenes, technical solutions had to be put in place to help the bank鈥檚 website and call centre teams handle the increased volume of inquiries, while staff were moved into telephony to make sure customers got called back by phone or on Zoom.
Ms Bilby says the company is still seeing a 鈥渟ignificant amount of borrowing requests鈥 from business customers.
It鈥檚 also carrying out a variety of 鈥渇inancial health checks鈥 for businesses to help them go cashless, as customers move away from cash and towards contactless payments.
How the branch network changed as the 海角视频 changed
Every retail and hospitality outlet has had to adapt quickly to cope with the effects of coronavirus and the resulting restrictions. Bank branches were no different, with NatWest and its rivals having to negotiate temporary closures, social distancing and changing customer habits.
Ms Blackamore said: 鈥淲e've been more flexible and creative than I ever imagined was possible.
鈥淎nd I鈥檝e been so very humbled by the speed at which our colleagues have really changed the way that they work, and also continued to enable customers to have the choice about what they do.鈥
Staff have helped people who usually banked in-branch to move online, or to mobile banking. They have also arranged phone meetings so customers could still have one-on-one time with NatWest staff without having to go into a branch.
However, some business and personal customers did still use the branch network - so at first many branches stayed open, with limited hours.
The branch network was able to adapt to the changes in other ways as it started to reopen.
While some central London branches remained closed for longer, as demand in those office areas had fallen so much, colleagues could instead be diverted to other areas so branches there could stay open.
Over time, opening hours extended and closed branches have reopened.
Ms Blackamore said: 鈥淧robably the group that we've supported most, most practically, is the over 65s.
鈥淲e saw a significant drop in their spending, particularly their shopping. And often it's when they do the shopping that they call into the branch.
鈥淭hat led us to the place where we started to think of creative ways in which we could support our customers as foot flow reduced significantly - partly because customers didn't want to be coming out and putting themselves at risk, but also because we had a lot of colleagues that needed to self isolate because they were clinically vulnerable or extremely vulnerable.
鈥淪o our opening hours moved very quickly to 10am til 1pm. We had a core group of colleagues, as key workers who kept our branches open - we kept about 97% of our branches open throughout the whole pandemic - but also a huge workforce working remotely flexibly around their other responsibilities from home.
鈥淭he things that I'm most proud of, are the proactive calls made to customers, particularly those over 65. Overall, we made over 330,000 calls to those customers.鈥
Those older customers had, Ms Blackamore said, 鈥渁 belief that cash was what they needed鈥. While that has changed as people got used to contactless, the bank still had to act to help customers who depended on coins and notes.
It introduced a secure cash delivery service, and a 鈥渃ompanion card鈥 that people could top up with cash and give to trusted friends or relatives to go shopping with.
Meanwhile, like other high street banks, NatWest offered payment holidays and interest-free overdrafts to help customers through short-term periods of crisis.
NatWest also set up an emergency phone line for NHS workers, which Ms Blackamore said was 鈥渨ell used and really important in those early stages鈥 of the pandemic.
The NHS support line was open 24/7 answered calls in an average of 10 seconds. It鈥檚 still running, though demand is less as working patterns have stabilised.
Supporting staff as well as customers through challenging times
It鈥檚 been a tough time for customers - but also for bank staff themselves, many of whom were working from home away from their usual support networks in branches and in offices.
Ms Bilby said: 鈥淧rotecting our staff was really key. So we ran some additional resilience, support and training on how to manage challenging conversations, and how to talk to customers who perhaps were going through some really difficult times.
鈥淲e wanted to make sure there was a support group available for those managers that if they've had a call that was difficult, they could pick up with the line manager or other wellbeing support.
鈥淚t was incredibly challenging with the volumes of calls, the volumes of loans, ever-changing processes to learn, and customers that were in some cases quite upset and distressed, not knowing what was going to happen with their businesses.
鈥淚鈥檓 very proud of what our people did to keep themselves going during those times.鈥
On the personal banking side, bank staff have found ways of staying in touch with their regular customers.
Ms Blackamore said: 鈥淚鈥檝e been overwhelmed by how so many of our colleagues have followed up with customers and the regulars of their branch.
鈥淎t one branch there was a brother and a sister, who are both 89 and 90, who used to come in every Tuesday afternoon. They hadn't been in, so a member of staff got in touch. And it turned out, they were both self isolating.
鈥淪o every Tuesday since March, she has done their weekly shop for them.
鈥淭hat's just one example, but I think that just shows how far our colleagues have gone to really help. And customers in those situations have been incredibly positive about that support.鈥
NatWest has also continued its work with SafeLives, a charity dedicated to ending domestic violence and abuse. In June it announced a 拢1m emergency fund for SafeLives to help support the victims of economic abuse.
And on a local level, individual branches have continued their charity work despite the pandemic.
Ms Bilby said her business teams in Ashford and Canterbury carried out a 2,600-mile virtual bike ride to raise cash for Kent Air Ambulance and another local charity, with people riding around near their houses or on exercise bikes at home and then totting up the totals.
Helping people learn about finance
When Alison Rose took over as CEO of NatWest last year, she said she wanted the bank to be 鈥減urpose-led鈥.
On her first day, she told staff: 鈥淔or millions of our customers, we are the organisation they trust to help them 鈥 whether it is their day to day banking or the bigger moments in their financial lives.
鈥淚t鈥檚 our job to be there right through their lives - from the start of their financial journey as we help teach children about money 鈥 through to opening their first accounts 鈥 and to supporting families with their day to day financial needs.鈥
Both Ms Blackamore and Ms Bilby are involved with NatWest鈥檚 flagship MoneySense financial education programme for 5-18-year olds - and see it educating people about finance as a key part of their work.
Ms Blackamore said: 鈥淚t's absolutely critical because we know that many people leave school - and indeed, many adults have left school - without that basic financial knowledge and education. So that's why we invest heavily in moneysense, which opened pre pandemic.
鈥淭hat moved digitally very, very quickly. So through our Facebook platform, we provided anybody with the opportunity to join Moneysense Mondays, Ways to Bank Wednesdays, and friends against scams Fridays.鈥
The bank also helps young people learn about budgeting - including via the popular Island Saver video game, where young people learn about saving by helping animals on a group if amazing islands.
Ms Blackamore said: 鈥淚t was an absolute hit. And again, many parents commented that it was the first time their children had started doing some budgeting but in a very accessible way.鈥
Avoiding scams and fraud - whether romantic or business
It鈥檚 not just about younger customers - banks like NatWest have long worked to help their customers avoid frauds and scams. Branch staff have had to become particularly adept at spotting telltale signs of fraud - and sadly, would-be fraudsters have kept busy despite the pandemic.
Ms Blackamore said: 鈥淲e will always have conversations with customers who come in to pay money away, partly because they could do it themselves online.
鈥淲e have always asked customers detailed questions about who they're paying, why are they paying them, have they ever met them. And most of the customers who have been victim of a scam, have been trained to answer those questions.
鈥淏ut we continue to find that generally, our experienced colleagues do get a gut feel for who is not quite truthful, not quite honest.
鈥淎nd we have the opportunity to use the police banking protocol, which we've used more times than ever over the last few months where we then refused to make the payment and got police involved.鈥
鈥淥nly last week, 拢40,000 was stopped at one of our branches in Hornchurch. And these are happening every single day.鈥
The bank has also partnered with the University of the Third Age, U3A, on anti-fraud training focused on romance scams, impersonation scams and investment scams
In business, Ms Bilby says her teams are keeping a close eye on the applications being made for emergency funding to help businesses through the pandemic.
She said: 鈥淭he government schemes are something that we need to be very careful and very aware of, because a lot of it is self attested. With the particular CBILS scheme, it's a self attested scheme.
鈥淥ne of the things that we are looking at at the moment is - what's happened with the funds? Has it been used as it has been retained in the business to help with cash flow? Or have they used it to maybe use it for paying off of more expensive debt to make sure it supports the business with its cash flow?
鈥淪o we are making sure that where we identify anything, we raise the right sort of concerns.鈥
What does the future hold?
It鈥檚 hard for people to look ahead at the moment as the progress of the pandemic remains uncertain and the threat of local and national lockdowns remains.
But Ms Bilby says that despite the uncertainty her customers are trying to stay upbeat.
She said: 鈥淏usinesses are trying to be positive, they're trying to be as creative as they can in pivoting what they do to make it work. They鈥檙e trying to find ways of staying open to find ways of being engaged. And it's been wonderful to see - but obviously, that's not the case for everybody.
鈥淭he majority of customers are feeling fairly optimistic about the future. But we haven't got a crystal ball - we don't know what's coming."鈥
