RBS & Natwest - Status Update

Emma News & Updates
1

I am including an email we have just sent to our users with RBS/Natwest connections. :slight_smile:

Hey Saver,

this is Edoardo, co-founder and CEO of Emma.

I am writing to give you an update on your Natwest or RBS connection!

As of last week, both banks have fully rolled out a new way to authenticate to your accounts, called Strong Customer Authentication (SCA).

This is a requirement of a big European regulation (PSD2) which forces banks to:

  • Adopt SCA on all their payment accounts (current, credit cards and savings)
  • Provide access to these types of accounts via API (Open Banking)

In terms of Emma, this meant that we needed to start adopting the second point, otherwise you would have needed to re-login every time to refresh data.

This is why we have started transitioning everyone to Open Banking, which is a backed government initiative that introduces a lot of innovation in the space - you won’t need to share your credentials anymore and will have to just authorise access on the banking app.

The Problem

Unfortunately, Natwest and RBS have “recently” removed payment functionality from their savings accounts. In this way, they are not legally required to return them anymore via API. That’s why our current Open Banking connection only supports Current Accounts and Credit Cards.

At this point, we don’t have any news and are working with the regulator, the Open Banking directory, our service provider and legal team to understand how to take action and win the battle for an open and transparent financial system!

The Solution

For the time being, we are going to continue supporting Current Accounts and Credit Cards and will transition any existing account not supported to the “Closed Accounts” section of the app.

We hope these accounts will soon be back on Emma, alongside the 10,000+ banks we support across 2 continents; but this doesn’t really depend on us.

The ball is in the hands of the bank. We truly believe we are on the verge of a financial revolution and need your help to bring these accounts back! :point_down::point_down::point_down:

Best,

Edoardo Moreni

Tweet Natwest & RBS

2

What is the functionality they have removed? In my NatWest app it still seems to let me make payments from my savings account?

3

You can transfer between your natwest accounts, but you can’t pay directly from a savings account to another bank.

4

I can - I just tested sending a penny to my wife’s HSBC account.

In the app nothing seems to have changed - I still have the pay button and all my payees available

5

How funny! The saver I have is just showing Transfer.

What account do you have?

Maybe they’re doing this gradually or not for all accounts

6

Strange indeed! :thinking:

I think it is just an instant saver account

7

Yes, this is one of the claims we have made to the Financial Conduct Authority, since payments can still be made on some accounts. They are investigating.

2 Likes
8

Is there any news on when Natwest savings accounts will be back on Emma?

9

Since this thread was started NatWest appear to have added support for some savings accounts via API.

Not sure if this covers all the savings accounts they offer or if something needs to be updated on Emma’s side for them to appear