Nationwide rolls out colour-coded cards for customers

Nationwide Building Society is rolling out a service across its 605 branches to support customers with communication difficulties. The Speak Easy initiative is a set of custom-made cards with pictures and phrases that customers can use as a communication tool to help interactions with staff.

The cards could help with banking matters including savings and payments, reporting a lost or stolen card and reporting a suspected fraud or scam. Phrases on the Speak Easy cards include: “Please speak slowly” and: “I do not recognise a payment on my account.”

One of the cards says: “I think I have been scammed.” Another card says: “Help me use the cash machine,” while another requests: “I need letters in large font/audio.”

Nationwide worked with charities on the colour-coded cards, including the Stroke Association and the British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD). A panel of people who experience communication difficulties helped to make the initiative accessible. Cards are coloured red for urgent matters such as scams, green for help such as information about Nationwide’s banking app, and yellow for support requests such as help making payments.

It is estimated that one in five people across the UK will experience communication difficulties, according to the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. The initiative could potentially support people including those who are autistic or have speech or cognitive issues, or those affected by Motor Neurone Disease (MND).

The rollout of Nationwide’s initiative branch-wide follows a recent pilot across branches in the Manchester area. It also follows the announcement of Nationwide’s partnership with Dementia UK to roll out their Admiral Nurses clinics at more than 200