NatWest, Nationwide and HSBC UK join CFIT Financial Inclusion Coalition

Source: Seven Hills BPI

After the Economic Secretary to the Treasury welcomed CFIT’s Financial Inclusion Coalition… last week, CFIT has announced that several major UK banks – including NatWest, Nationwide and HSBC UK – will participate in the Coalition, highlighting Government and industry support for the initiative to develop a new Supported Payments framework.

The announcement demonstrates the growing momentum behind the coalition, bringing together government, major financial institutions, regulators, technology providers, the third sector and people with lived experience around a shared ambition to tackle a longstanding systemic challenge in the UK.

A significant number of people need help from someone they trust to manage everyday payments, including people with learning disabilities and others who may need support while retaining the ability to make their own financial decisions. Current banking arrangements do not adequately support this need. As a result, people and their supporters can be pushed towards informal and potentially unsafe workarounds, including sharing cards, PINs or online banking credentials.

The framework will address the gap between managing finances entirely independently and formal arrangements such as Power of Attorney or deputyship. The aim is to increase independence and control while providing appropriate safeguards for customers, trusted third parties, and financial services providers.

From Project Nemo to practical delivery

The Financial Inclusion Coalition builds on more than two years of work led by Project Nemo, which grew from a grassroots initiative focused on disability inclusion into a wider cross-sector movement bringing together banks, fintechs, charities, policymakers, regulators and, critically, people with lived experience.

In a major research publication, led by Nationwide, Project Nemo helped identify a significant gap in the way financial services support people who need assistance managing their money. For many, the current options can fall between managing finances entirely independently, relying on informal and potentially risky arrangements such as sharing passwords or PINs, or moving to formal legal mechanisms, such as Power of Attorney or deputyship.

This work helped build wider recognition of the need for change. HM Treasury’s Financial Inclusion Strategy recognised Project Nemo’s work identifying barriers faced by disabled consumers, with Government subsequently providing funding to CFIT to take the work forward. The launch of CFIT’s Financial Inclusion Coalition with Project Nemo at Money20/20 Europe marked the next stage in that journey: moving from identifying the problem and mobilising the industry towards developing, testing and ultimately implementing a practical solution.

The Coalition is now developing a Supported Payments framework, bringing together financial institutions, technology providers, government, regulators, the third sector and people with lived experience. The aim is to establish how trusted third-party support could work safely in practice – giving people appropriate help with everyday payments while allowing them to retain as much independence, choice and control as possible.

That progression is important to the wider CFIT story: Project Nemo helped surface the challenge and build the case for action; Government recognised the issue and provided support; CFIT is now bringing the ecosystem together to turn that momentum into a practical, scalable solution.

From industry mobilisation to practical delivery

Throughout the remainder of 2026, Coalition participants will undertake a series of focused sprints to develop a Trust & Governance Framework and test key elements of the Supported Payments model, including digital identity verification and approaches to assessing a customer’s ability to use the service.

Crucially, people with lived experience will be directly involved in designing and testing the proposed customer journey.

This work will culminate in an interim report later this year, setting out the Coalition’s initial findings and Trust & Governance Framework, and informing the next phase of the programme which will focus on building and testing a Minimum Viable Product for Supported Payments.

Anna Wallace, chief executive officer of CFIT, said: “For too many people, getting help to manage their money still means giving up more control than they should have to. Tackling that challenge requires coordinated action across the industry.

“CFIT is here to do exactly that: marshal the expertise, commitment and resources needed to move beyond recognising the problem to developing and testing practical solutions that deliver meaningful change.”

Further reading: CFIT launches Financial Inclusion Coalition to develop inclusive payments solutions