NatWest Group is expanding its investment-focused Financial Foundations programme to 50,000 people in UK workplaces and community groups.
Editorial
This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community.
As part of the bank’s goal to demystify investing, the workshops will be open across the UK from May 2026 to build up financial confidence and financial literacy.
The workshops will aim to support 1,000 people a week, to help 50,000 people in 2026 with free financial guidance. The guidance is available for free to workplaces and community groups nationwide.
The workshop expansion was prompted by the results of a March 2026 NatWest survey, which found that 58% of the 5,000 UK adult participants would be interested in taking part in a financial education session on investing if offered by their workplace.
The first workshop took place in Newark, Nottinghamshire for digital transformation specialists in Barcode Warehouse. At the launch, NatWest CEO Paul Thwaite stated:
“A strong economy needs financial confidence and capability – the knowledge and skills that help people and families budget, save, invest and plan for the future. This is a vital part of our economic infrastructure and is often overlooked. Household saving and investment decisions play a critical role in the economy, yet too many people still feel uncertain or excluded from the knowledge and tools required to successfully make those decisions as part of their long term financial planning.
“Building a stronger culture of financial confidence across the full spectrum, from everyday budgeting and on to saving and investing, starts with education, whether in schools, workplaces or at key life moments.”
As part of the expansion, NatWest is training 300 employees to become facilitators of the workshops, joining the 400 facilitators already working in the programme.
The workshops have been running since 2024. In 2025, 1,500 Financial Foundations workshops took place with over 31,000 participants. Both Financial Foundations and NatWest Thrive, its partner programme for young people, reached one million people.
Alpesh Khakhar, CFO, The Barcode Warehouse, said: “Our colleagues found the Financial Foundations investment workshop extremely beneficial. Even for those with some experience of investing or a good understanding of managing money, the opportunity to have open conversations and receive simple, impartial guidance helped to break down barriers that can exist. We’re looking forward to more of our colleagues across the UK having the chance to take part in future sessions.”
The announcement is part of NatWest Group’s ‘Growing Together’ initiative to support innovators and boost financial confidence through education across the UK.
NatWest also offers confidential Worksite Financial Health Checks to employees of business customers for free. The Checks connect an employee with a trained personal banker to set financial goals, ask questions, and build their financial confidence.
In March 2026, NatWest went live with the digital mortgage platform Pexa.
