The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has given its business customers an additional six months to transfer their accounts to other banks as part of its state aid program in the event of a financial crisis.
RBS said fewer customers used the incentive switch program to swap banks during the pandemic. Consequently, the deadline for changing candidacies will be extended by six months., from August 25, 2020 to the end of February 2021.
An additional 200,000 customers of investment banks RBS and Natwest with turnover of up to £ 1million will also be able to apply to switch during this period, RBS said.
Customers would have until June 30, 2021 to transition.
“Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, fewer clients have switched to ISS and these changes are being announced by Banking Competition Remedies (BCR) to preserve the momentum and goals of the ISS.
“Making these changes now, which might otherwise have been implemented at a later date, gives RBS greater certainty. “
“These changes to the ISS do not change the total number of clients targeted to switch under the program,” RBS added. “As a result, no material changes are expected in RBS’s current financial outlook.”
At the most, the bank may have to contribute an additional £ 50million to the ISS if the number of business clients changing jobs turns out to be insufficient.
The ISS program could end prematurely if the BCR distributes the £ 225million fund for the corporate current account switch before February 2021.
