Wallace and Gromit team help RBS develop savings app for children

Produced and designed by the makers of Wallace and Gromit - Aardman Animations - the app features  new animated savings characters, Pigby and his friends. The characters were introduced at the end of 2013 during the launch of the childrens’ savings account from NatWest and RBS - First Saver .

The free-to-download app aims to help children learn about saving money through a fun game that features the user as a boy or girl pig character running a stall in an animated fairground. Pigby’s friends run other stalls, and players can check how much his friends have saved and what they’re saving towards.

The user is guided by Pigby through a fictional journey where he or she sells ice cream at the fair to earn money. The player then has the choice of spending or saving, with saving bonuses being offered at various points.

In every five minutes of gameplay the child is taken to the Pigby Bank to deposit some of their hard earned pocket money. They are also able to set their own saving target for new or upgraded stalls, and on reaching their goals they unlock new items and levels to allow them to progress further.

Research by NatWest and RBS showed that more than two-thirds of UK parents (68%) are worried about the long-term financial security of their children. The research also found that a fifth (20%) of children aged 5-10 would like to save but can’t stop themselves from spending, and over half (58%) say they are more likely to spend money received at Christmas rather than save it.

The Pigby’s Fair app has been created to help parents educate their children about managing  finances from a young age so that they are better prepared for later life.

Heather Wright, Executive Producer at Aardman Animations, said: “Our core audience is children, so creating the Pigby’s Fair app was the perfect project for us. We wanted to use a concept that children would enjoy and we felt a game based in a fairground was an ideal platform to educate young ones.”

David Crawford, Head of Savings at NatWest and RBS, says: “We appreciate that the idea of discussing money management may not be an interesting topic for children and that can make it difficult for parents to teach. We want to help parents give their children the best possible opportunities in a time where preparing for our financial future is considered so crucial. 

“Aardman Animations were the obvious partner to create our innovative app and the Pigby and Friends characters. Aardman bring the ability to capture childrens’ imaginations and we at NatWest and RBS bring the savings expertise to help parents teach the next generation to save.”

Children can download the Pigby’s Fair app for free from the Apple app store or Google Play.

For more information on Pigby’s Fair app please visit natwest.com/firstsaver or rbs.co.uk/firstsaver or head to your nearest NatWest or RBS branch.