NatWest will on Monday launch a new digital centre of excellence in Bristol, bringing 80 jobs to the city.
The new facility will be based in its Trinity Quay office, alongside the bank’s Entrepreneurial Spark hub and NatWest teams including commercial and corporate banking.
The NatWest Digital Studio will be at the forefront of the bank’s investment in digital for commercial and corporate customers across the UK. The bank said it is designed to help customers reduce their risk and save time. 
The centre will initially rollout a new online banking service to more than 100,000 customers starting later this year. It will then build on this with a wider suite of digital capabilities, including mobile banking.
The centre underpins Bristol’s strength as a centre for fintech. Leading financial technology company Gresham, which provides enterprise data integrity and control products to some of the world’s largest financial institutions, chose the city as the base for its global innovation centre.
In 2015 American supercomputer giant Cray, which works with major international finance firms, opened its European, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) headquarters in Bristol.
South African giant MMI Holdings acquired home-grown fintech company Blue Speck Financial and Twitter snapped up Bristol-based tech firm SecondSync.
NatWest is recruiting software engineers, test analysts, solution designers and business analysts.
NatWest director of corporate and commercial banking for Bristol, Matt Hatcher, said: “NatWest customers already use digital more than any other way of interacting with the bank – nearly 80% of customers interact with us via digital channels.
“This new studio not only shows our commitment to having a leading digital proposition for our commercial and corporate customers but also reiterates the bank’s investment in the South West.
“This area has one of the lowest unemployment rates of all UK regions and Bristol has seen an astonishing 10% growth in jobs over the last three years. This is a dynamic city with a strong talent-base in the digital sector.
“Our Entrepreneurial Spark powered by NatWest hub in Bristol has created more new jobs than any of the other nationwide hubs. So we are particularly pleased to be able to continue building on our success in Bristol by making the city home to our new digital centre of excellence.”
