Simple changes making big differences

As an employee and customer of the bank it’s important to me at both a professional and personal level that as a bank we do the right thing. To me this simply means providing the best experience possible for customers when they're interacting with our services and products.

I have a congenital eye condition call Nystagmus and was registered as partially sighted last year. I’m very lucky that I have my sight and I’m able to live a life without major restrictions, however there are lots of little changes and alterations I make to my daily life to make things easier. Banking is one of those activities that touches my life everyday; whether I’m buying a coffee in the morning or paying utility bills. Making this easier is generally dependent on my bank and the accessibility options they offer. 

As co-chair of the bank's disabled employee led network Enable, I was given the opportunity to be involved in the design and testing of the new accessible banks cards by providing feedback and suggesting changes to the project team.

Through involving employees and the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) it’s helped ensure that we’re launching something that will make a difference for our customers, not just launching a product that’s been designed in a dark room.

The card itself is a simple solution but it's sometimes the smallest changes that can make the biggest impact - with the addition of raised dots and a notch in the card so I know which way it goes in the card machine. It may seem silly but not putting the card in the machine the wrong way will be a big win for me.

When you combine the card with large card readers, digital banking and the future launch of talking ATMs banking becomes easier all round. There is always more we can do for our disabled and vulnerable customers but it's great to see us leading the way with the accessible card which is accredited by the RNIB.