Staff from a Birmingham branch of NatWest had a taste of fame after being asked to appear on breakfast TV to talk about banking scams.
Bankers Baljinder Dhaliwal, known as Bally, and Kam Pahal regularly support Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi speakers in their Grand Central Birmingham branch and understand some of the challenges customers from these communities can face when it comes to spotting scams.
The bankers had planned to deliver a session in Punjabi to around 40 regular customers, however their audience grew overnight when they were invited to star in the breakfast slot of the Birmingham-based Sikh Channel, which broadcasts Sikh religious and cultural shows around the clock across the world.
Bally said: “Our manager was speaking to one of our customers during a visit to the branch and explaining what we were planning to do. The customer happened to run the Sikh Channel on Sky TV, which is really popular among the Punjabi community and he said: ‘Why don’t you just do it on the show?’”
Kam added: “We know the channel really well. My parents both watch it, and we know a lot of people that tune in in the mornings.”
The pair fitted in rehearsals around their day job at the bank to help them prepare and, on the day, were up at 5am to travel to the TV studio ready to broadcast live at 7.30am.
Despite appearing on international TV being a daunting prospect, especially for Bally and Kam who were both delivering NatWest’s Keeping Your Money Safe session for the first time, they jumped at the chance to take part because of the challenges of educating communities about the risks of fraud and scams, particularly those whose first language isn’t English.
Bally said: “I think it’s the first time anyone’s ever delivered the session on live TV. We were really nervous at first but they made us feel really comfortable and told us exactly what was going to happen, so we didn’t feel as nervous as we thought we would.
“It was really good because it helped us reach vulnerable customers out there who might be more likely to fall victim to scams. I ended up really enjoying it and I’d even do it again.”
Kam added: “If you don’t talk about things like this then, if you do fall victim to a scam, you might think you’re the only person this has happened to. But it can happen to anyone, there’s no shame in it and you shouldn’t feel embarrassed to talk about it with friends, family and your bank so you can get help.”
In NatWest’s Banking on Racial Equality Report in October 2020, the bank set out a number of commitments, including the pledge to build financial capability with UK customers from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Following on from the commitment, the bank has held Keeping Your Money Safe sessions for customers across the UK for the last two years, with the bank running weekly online sessions throughout the pandemic and branch staff helping deliver sessions in a range of different languages in local venues.
Raghujit Narula, Managing Director, Customer Engagement & Distribution and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Sponsor for Retail Banking said: “As a bank, we understand the value of diversity, both within our business and our communities. One of the many benefits of a diverse workforce is a deeper understanding of our customers and their needs. This initiative is a fantastic way to empower colleagues to take real, practical action to help meet the needs of their local communities, further strengthening our relationships and helping to ensure that more of our customers have the knowledge and tools they need to help them thrive.”
To increase access to fraud and scam education, the Keeping Your Money Safe materials have been translated into a wide range of different languages, including Bengali, Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Polish, Portuguese, Turkish and Spanish.
