My word: trust
Brand words, Good words, Words words words
If you can’t trust your bank, who can you trust? Adrian Oldman, Head of Marketing at Unity Trust Bank – a specialist bank for social enterprises, charities and trade unions – talks about a word that’s back in fashion in the world of finance.
Adrian Oldman, Head of Marketing, Unity Trust Bank
From television adverts to leaflets in branches, suddenly every high street bank seems desperate to earn back our trust. But Unity has long enjoyed the trust of its customers. In fact, it’s been rated Best for Banking Services by the readers of Charity Finance magazine for six years in a row. So what does trust mean for Unity’s team?
“We call our approach social trust,” says Adrian. “For us, business is about more than just the bottom line. We offer banking that’s based on an open and honest relationship. And we’re committed to our customers and to our sector. Last year our 90 staff gave 1,600 hours of volunteering back to the community.”
Known as Unity in the Community, the volunteering scheme is a long-standing initiative. It’s this commitment which is key to earning real trust – and not just claiming to be trustworthy, believes Adrian.
“We’ve always done what’s right rather than just what’s likely to earn us the most money,” says Adrian. “For example, we abolished penalty charges. And we don’t tempt people in with attractive rates only to change them later.”
Unity’s approach is paying off, as customers and potential staff seek out banks they can trust. “It’s helped us recruit the best people – those who want to work for a bank where they can focus on meeting customers’ needs, not selling them products they don’t want,” he says.
After the days of too-good-to-be-true interest rates and no-questions-asked mortgages, it seems trust is a word that’s back on people’s minds. And that’s good news if, like Unity, you walk the talk when it comes to an ethical approach to business.