Commercial Banking Graduate Trainee Review

NatWest group is an incredibly accepting organisation. I feel free to be authentically myself at work. There is also so much flexibility with working arrangements which is so helpful.

In my first rotation, I was in a specialist sales team that sells transaction banking and trade products to customers in commercial and business banking. I learnt about products such as credit cards, Bankline, Payit and trade products. The interactions with customers were virtual over zoom or via mobile phone.
In my second rotation, I took the role of an assistant relationship manager in a coverage team sitting in commercial Mid-Market. I supported across a portfolio of customers by overseeing portfolio performance by managing credit-related queries, resolving operational issues and monitoring exposure levels. In my third rotation I worked in a credit delivery team where I mitigated credit risk and gained hands on experience working on lending deals.
My favourite role was the one in coverage where I could go out and visit customers.

It differs on the team you get placed into. But on most rotations, you should be able to have the freedom to get involved with as much as you'd like so you can get a flavour for what the role is about.

I'd say the grad salary is pretty good considering each team differs in flexibility and workload. We get an additional 10% top up from NatWest into our Value account that contributes to our pension.

It depends what rotations you get given. So in this sense, it can be a bit of the luck of the draw. That being said, there are plenty of extracurricular activities you can do and shadowing/networking other teams to build out your knowledge of teams you might see yourself going in for the future.

My placement managers in each rotation have all been fantastic and on the ball with my development. My graduate manager (line manager) could have been better. They did not give me much support when it came to roll off and looking for a job and often missed catch ups that were important to me. My grad buddy was and is still great and a fantastic support. We met up biweekly to chat through anything, personal or work related and we still catch up now!

I am able to complete my work in the amount of time I have during the day.

NatWest is a very accepting, inclusive organisation. The flexible working policies allow colleagues to fit work around their personal life.

We have a whole range of employee led networks including the gender network, rainbow network, armed forces network, multicultural network and Aspire network to name a few. So there is a lot to get involved in. In the office there are accessible desks that can be height adjusted if needed.

Yes

It's a great way into a large organisation with a whole load of opportunities.

It was much more credit/lending heavy than I expected as my grad scheme was advertised as a products and propositions grad scheme. The early talent team have also changed how you manage roll off so if you don't get a job by the end of the grad scheme, your job safety can be questionable