Bó was a banking brand that operated in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

between November 2019 and May 2020. Bó operated as a trading division of

National Westminster Bank National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it ...

, part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, later renamed

NatWest Group NatWest Group plc is a British banking and insurance holding company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The group operates a wide variety of banking brands offering personal and business banking, private banking, investment banking, insurance and ...

History

In March 2018, it was revealed that the then Royal Bank of Scotland Group were planning to establish a

digital banking Digital banking is part of the broader context for the move to online banking, where banking services are delivered over the internet. The shift from traditional to digital banking has been gradual and remains ongoing, and is constituted by diff ...

brand to rival services offered by newly established and tech-focused

challenger bank Challenger banks are small, recently created retail banks that compete directly with the longer-established banks in the UK, sometimes by specialising in areas underserved by the "big four" banks (Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, and NatWe ...

s. The name of the new banking brand, Bó, was announced in September 2018. Following a period of beta testing by RBS Group employees, Bó was launched to the public on 27 November 2019. The development of Bó was estimated as costing £100 million. The chief executive officer of Bó, Mark Bailie, announced that he would be leaving the bank in 2020. On 1 May 2020, it was announced that Bó would close, and its 11,413 customers were given 60 days to withdraw their money. Staff working for Bó would be transferred to NatWest's Mettle business banking division.

Branding

The Bó brand was developed by Accenture Interactive. The name Bó was described as having no meaning in the

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to t ...

but it has been reported that the word means "cow" in Irish and "to live" in

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

. Bó used the marketing slogan "Do Money Better". The Bó brand used yellow as its focus colour and its circular logo was said to represent the Sun. Debit cards were yellow and in the portrait orientation on the front side, showing only the bank name and customer name. The card number, sort code and account number, expiration dates and CVC codes were printed on the reverse side.

Services

Bó offered a current account and that was accessed through a debit card and mobile banking app. The app allowed customers to save money in a linked non-interest paying savings account and offered tools to help customers better manage their money. It allowed payments in and out using the faster payments system. The account did not support direct debits or standing orders and customers were not able to pay in

cash In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In bookkeeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-immed ...

cheque A cheque, or check (American English; see spelling differences) is a document that orders a bank (or credit union) to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The pers ...

s. Bó did not offer overdraft facilities or the ability to open joint accounts.

References

External links

Official website
{{UK banks Banks of the United Kingdom NatWest Group British companies established in 2019 Banks established in 2019 Companies based in London Online banks