Trust is the proverbial bad penny for financial services. Pages of analysis have been devoted to rebuilding it. Has any of it made a difference? By understanding trust more deeply trust can be rebuilt.

Will Metro Bank rise to challenge the UK retail banking incumbents? They certainly have the right pedigree and are challenging the status quo by doing things differently and apparently the inert UK customer is responding positively.

I'm a Natwest customer of long standing, around 30 years in fact, ever since I took out my first bank account. Together with their stable mate, RBS, they have launched to much fanfare of posters and advertising their "Customer Charter - 14 commitments to make them Britain's most helpful bank". Yesterday in a comedy of errors I spent 25 minutes in a Natwest branch in London. So let's see whether my experience and those of my fellow customers matches up to their commitments:

This week Natwest and Royal Bank of Scotland rolled out their Customer Charter and lots of marketing in support. Full page ads in papers up and down the country. According to these adverts they are now making 14 commitments to help them become "Britain's most helpful bank".

I've talked frequently on this blog about banking and how financial services companies should be engaging with their specific customer groups rather than broadcasting to the masses (see Engaging with the Web 2.0 consumer or Just how special and different are financial services brands?).We saw First Direct making a foray into the space when it started to externalise its social media commentary through First Direct Live. That was a confident move for a brand that knows it is good at service.