NOMINATE ST MARY'S HOSPICE NOW!

BANK LAUNCHES NEW FUND TO SUPPORT LOCAL COMMUNITIES

NatWest and The Royal Bank of Scotland ('RBS') today announced details of a new fund to support local charities and projects, and are inviting customers and local people to decide who should benefit from this new community initiative.

Last month NatWest and RBS launched a charter setting out their commitments to customers and what they can expect from the bank(s). As part of the charter, which was based on direct input from 30,000 customers, they have made a commitment to support the local communities they work in.

Customers and members of the local community can nominate a charity or project by visiting their local NatWest or RBS or by logging on to www.natwest.com/communityfund and www.rbs.co.uk/communityfund

Once all the nominations have been received a panel consisting of representatives from the bank, local people and community figures will select three charities/projects from those put forward. The community will then be invited to vote for their favourite of the three, with the most popular receiving a £3,000 grant with the two runners up each receiving £1,000.

Jon Fox, Regional Managing Director for NatWest in the Midlands, said: "NatWest (RBS) has a long and proud history of helping good causes and our Community Fund will bring this support to a new level. By asking local people to nominate and vote for the community charities/projects which are important to them, the fund will be directly supporting the communities the bank serves."

Jon added: "By way of an additional support for the community, the bank has granted our employees a day away from the office to help local good causes. We hope this element of our customer charter will deliver more than 10,000 days of community volunteering in 2010."

Please spare a moment of your time by voting for St Mary's Hospice through each of the following links:
www.natwest.com/communityfund
www.rbs.co.uk/communityfund