The Royal Bank of Scotland has launched a 14-point 'customer charter' designed to rebuild public faith in the part-nationalised giant after a torrid two years.
The charter, which also covers subsidiary NatWest, comes after the opinions of around 30,000 customers were canvassed. Progress made against each promise will be monitored by customers each year and the results made transparent in an independent audit by Deloittes, published every six months.
Commitments include early morning and late night opening for 200 of the bank's busiest branches, an 'aim' to serve most customers queuing within five minutes and 24/7 telephone banking from UK-based call centres.
RBS is also pledging to stay open for business if it is the last bank in a town and to "actively support the local communities we work in".
Other, less concrete, promises include keeping customers safe online, providing a "friendly, helpful service" and resolving complaints "fairly, consistently and promptly", publishing the five most common.
Brian Hartzer, CEO, RBS and NatWest, says: "We had a searing experience as a business and are thankful we were rescued. We have since taken stock on how we do things. There's a lot we do well for customers, but we can do more and we want to change. This won't happen overnight, but the Customer Charter is our pledge that we are on the case and will be held to account against the progress we make."