Global Compact International Yearbook 2012

Best Practice
Financial Markets
Royal Bank of Scotland Group
Supporting the
Development of Youth
Entrepreneurship in the
United Kingdom
The RBS Group has been a signatory of the UN Global
Compact since 2003, and in 2010 our Head of Sustainability
became Chair of the UK Network; working to promote the
Global Compact’s Ten Principles among UK industries and
the wider UNGC community. We support the Compact as
we believe that the resources available to businesses can
be leveraged to create sustainable development and a more
sustainable economy – on both a local and global scale.
As part of building a sustainable RBS, we
recognize our responsibility to be a positive
force in the communities in which
we operate. One of the areas in which we
focus is contributing to the development
of young people in the United Kingdom.
We do this through a range of programs
that focus on education, mentoring, and
fostering entrepreneurship.
MoneySense for Schools
MoneySense for Schools is our financial
education program, which, over the
course of the last 18 years, has become
the largest financial education program
of its kind in UK secondary schools.
In 2007, research showed that 90
percent of adults in the United Kingdom
had never received lessons at school on
managing money, while 66 percent felt
that having lessons would have better
equipped them to deal with the financial
challenges of modern life. We believe
financial awareness is a key life skill
and our aim with the program is to offer
every school in the United Kingdom
the chance to teach young people how
to better manage their money.
MoneySense now reaches more
than 70 percent of secondary schools
in the United Kingdom and it has taught
2.5 million young people about money.
The aim is to give the opportunity of a
financial education and to ensure that it
is of a quality that will enable young people
to feel equipped to make informed
financial decisions.
Using the skills of our staff and the expertise
of our business, we are well placed to
offer these vital lessons. Because better
financial education is so closely aligned
to our aims as a business, we are committed
to offering our knowledge, experience,
funding, and employee support to
deliver this service.
We measure the effectiveness of
MoneySense in part through an annual
independent research study. Launched in
2007, each year it assesses the attitudes
and behaviors of Britain’s 12- to 19-yearolds.
To date, 40,000 surveys have been
completed by young people, making it
the most comprehensive survey of its
kind carried out in the country. The results
show that those who experience a
MoneySense lesson benefit from it as they
understand, budget, and save more. This
demonstrates progress toward achieving
the long-term goal of our program – to
produce a generation of customers who
have the tools and knowledge to manage
their personal finances well.
Supporting disadvantaged youth
into enterprise
Through our strategic partnerships with
organizations such as The Prince’s Trust,
we help thousands of young entrepreneurs
gain access to the business advice
and financing they need to start up and
succeed in business.
RBS has supported The Prince’s
Trust for more than 11 years. The Trust
runs programs to give young people from
disadvantaged backgrounds the skills,
confidence, and support they need for
work and to lead successful lives. They
work with young people who are unemployed,
those without qualifications,
ex-offenders, and those leaving care.
The Prince’s Trust Enterprise program,
of which we are the largest corporate
supporter, offers young entrepreneurs
loan funding, advice, and the
support of a business mentor. Almost
3,000 young people were directly supported
as a result of RBS support for The
Trust in 2011. The charity is also backed
by RBS employees who volunteer and
fundraise on behalf of the Trust.
Youth poverty is a growing problem
in the United Kingdom. There are
more than 1 million young people in
the country who are not in education,
employment, or training. In 2011 RBS
sponsored a flagship piece of research
carried out by The Prince’s Trust, “Broke,
Not Broken: Tackling Youth Poverty and
the Aspiration Gap,” which highlighted
the differences in the attitudes of young
people from affluent backgrounds, as
compared to those from disadvantaged
backgrounds. The approach and support
offered by The Prince’s Trust helps
to bridge this disparity – more than
three quarters of young people helped
by The Trust go on to work, education,
or training.
Student enterprise
Research has shown that enterprise education
at school makes it more likely that
students will go on to start a business,
and that their business will be a success.
We support and promote student
enterprise and are the headline sponsors
of two student enterprise competitions,
run by Find Invest Grow. Together these
represent the largest, most comprehensive
student enterprise programs in the
United Kingdom.
Find Invest Grow supports undergraduates
and recent graduates in the
United Kingdom to start up in business,
working with young entrepreneurs to
support their business development and
introduce them to suitable investors.
Find Invest Grow has a presence both
online and offline through a variety of
events and competitions, two of which
are supported by RBS and delivered to
over 100 universities around the United
Kingdom.
The RBS Enterprising Student Societies’
Accreditation is aimed at rewarding
enterprising undergraduate student societies
and the teams behind them. The
program promotes, encourages, and
rewards enterprising activities within
societies in an attempt to increase the
level of enterprising skills throughout the
United Kingdom. The RBS EnterprisingU
is the world’s largest student business
plan competition to find, encourage,
and invest in students’ business ideas.
Students submit their business ideas,
the best of which are selected to pitch
at a national level to an “investor panel”
of experts. Winners can take away up
to £25,000 for their business.
Our support for these programs
demonstrates how we go beyond banking
services to equip young people with the
tools they need to be more financially
literate and more knowledgeable about
business as well as the opportunities and
services available to them. We believe
that a generation that manages its personal
finances well and runs profitable
businesses will contribute to and boost
the UK economy.
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