Research over the last few years has highlighted the difficulties the d/Deaf community has faced in communicating with banks and financial services.
This has included a key report published by the Lending Standards Board (LSB), which explored these challenges and the service offered by firms. These difficulties have led to a poor customer service experience and high risk of financial vulnerability amongst the community.
See BSL Translation at https://lnkd.in/eK-A5RGB
SigningBanks UK is built on the belief that everyone, regardless of their hearing ability, deserves seamless access to financial resources and services. Through innovation, advocacy and collaboration, we are determined to bridge the gap between the financial sector and their deaf customers.
Our new website, which has been sponsored by Nationwide, will provide resources for both deaf people and financial services firms. These should help deaf people navigate the financial services sector, and help financial services improve the experience of deaf people who are engaging with banks and lenders.
We will be working hard to promote the needs of deaf customers, share existing good practice and technological innovations, and to highlight outstanding gaps in service provision. We are very grateful for the support of the Government Disability Ambassador for Banking, @Kathryn Townsend, who has gathered together an industry working group with
22 members. The group members have shown significant progress in the last 12 months on deaf accessibility, both in terms of recognising the challenges that deaf customers face and with more banks taking concrete steps to improve access. Following on from last year’s LSB report, Access for d/Deaf Customers in Banking & Credit, is an updated report.
There is still much more progress to be made, and we’re excited for SigningBanks UK to be part of that. Kathryn Townsend, Nationwide’s Head of Customer Vulnerability and Accessibility, and the UK Government Disability and Access Ambassador for Banking, said: “We believe in making banking accessible, inclusive and fairer for all, which is why we are delighted to be sponsoring the new SigningBanks.UK website. The ethos behind the website and the support and content it aims to provide means it will be a crucial resource in helping to achieve that ambition. Collaboration is key to ensuring that deaf customers have access to all the vital financial information they need, and so we are pleased to be working with the wider financial services industry on this new site.”
ESquared would also like to extend thanks to our Advisory Board and supporters The Lending Standards Board, British Deaf Association, Deafax, deafPLUS, MyBnk, Royal Association for Deaf people, The Royal National Institute For Deaf People and Signly. Rachel Vann is an indomitable support, James West , Alistair, Tamzin Bayne
We are just at the start of journey.
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