Oliver Holbourn, RBSI: A strategic approach to disability inclusion

Oliver Holbourn, RBSI: A strategic approach to disability inclusion

About Oliver Holbourn 

Oliver “Olly” Holbourn is CEO of RBS International (part of NatWest Group) and has been the executive sponsor for disability and accessibility within the bank for 3 years. He is also the sponsor of NatWest Group’s employee led Enable Disability & Neurodiversity Network. 

The challenge 

Olly believes that ‘everyone must do something for accessibility’ and has used his passion and influence to involve colleagues at all levels into his accessibility strategy, to benefit both staff and customers. This aligns with the bank’s wider purpose of championing potential and helping people, families and businesses to thrive. 

The project 

Olly has demonstrated a really embedded, strategic approach to disability inclusion across both the customer and employee piece. 

Aligning priorities with the Executive Committee at NatWest Group (ExCo), he got buy-in for a new Digital Accessibility Team, with the aim of embedding the inclusion ethos across the organisation and deliver tangible improvements for customers with disabilities.  

To strengthen the voice and visibility of disabled employees, Olly supported the merger of the Enable employee-led network and the Neurodiversity Alliance. He’s also established the Accessibility Working Group (AWG), a monthly meeting that brings together experts from different parts of the business with the Enable Disability & Neurodiversity Network to address the barriers faced by disabled customers and colleagues. 

Thanks to Olly’s sponsorship, the bank now has a working pilot to automate testing for their mobile app, used by millions of customers – a change that puts accessibility at the heart of the bank’s digital strategy. As an example, and as a direct response to user feedback, customers can now adjust the way they interact with the Chatbot Cora by changing speed of speech, screen size or font size.  

Olly understands the power of working together for the greater good, and through generous leadership, he brought together HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays, Bank of England and a building society for a roundtable on digital accessibility. The event was the first of its kind. 

Other achievements include sponsoring the first bank-wide event with BSL; supporting the creation of the D/deaf and Hard of Hearing group, developing a Neurodiversity Pathway to support neurodiverse employees; and encouraging his ExCo peers to make a pledge to learn about accessibility in the #EnableDontDisable internal campaign. He also backed the ‘Friend Like Me’ initiative, which offers community-based support by people with lived experiences of various disabilities, medical conditions, and impairments.

The result 

Olly has fostered a culture of innovation and inclusion for people with disabilities within NatWest and beyond. 

Thanks to his hard work with the Digital Accessibility team, the bank’s accessibility maturity score has gone from 1.9 to 3 in 2023. NatWest won best digital accessibility mission at the Experience Awards in late 2023. 

Internally, the DE&I team have added a new learning module on disability to the colleague learning journey, which has been completed by over 47k colleagues. The creation of the D/deaf and Hard of Hearing group has led to bank-wide training in BSL. 

Going forward 

Olly is still leading and accelerating sustainable change at NatWest. Speaking of disability inclusion, he says: “there is more we can and should do”. His initiatives are still going strong, all in support of his vision of building an accessible bank by design. 

The D/deaf and Hard of Hearing group has plans to provide training for common important phrases related to fire alarms and finding your way around a building. Additionally, BSL has now been adopted for all company events. 

The Personal Development Virtual Course for disabled/neurodivergent colleagues will be expanded in 2024.

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