Early Talent

Commercial Banking Internships

Salary £24,000 (pro rata)

Starts June 2025

Duration 8 weeks

Qualifications required On course to achieve a 2:1 degree

Colleagues network in café area at our Gogarburn o, smiling and chatting in a social work environment with modern wooden furniture.

Our goal in Commercial Banking

We want to build strong relationships and help UK businesses thrive in an ever-changing world. From entrepreneurial start-ups to large corporate organisations, we provide the comprehensive banking services they need at the right time – helping them manage their day-to-day business activity, supporting them through both good and challenging times, and working with them to help them plan for the future.

Our vision is to be a relationship bank for a digital world – one that supports customers at every stage of their lifecycle through our face-to-face, direct and digital channels.

As a part of our Commercial and Institutional customer-led franchise, this part of our bank focuses on bringing digital innovation to a diverse range of customers, making it a truly exciting and diverse place to build experience and skills.

A group of colleagues having a casual discussion in a breakout space at our Gogarburn office with tiered seating, plants, and warm lighting.

Your career in Commercial & Institutional

Our Commercial & Institutional (C&I) franchise combines Commercial Banking, NatWest Markets, and RBS International and serves over one million customers, ranging from start-ups through to large corporate and financial institutions.

Our Financing Solutions, Commercial Banking, NatWest Markets and RBS International Graduate programmes sit within C&I and will give you the opportunity to generate efficiency, productivity, and future growth opportunities.

The wide scope of business areas that make up C&I will allow you to build connections and increase your knowledge so you can help us to evolve and continually improve the service we offer to our customers.

Text: What is working for Commercial & Institutional really like?

Shatta Bhowmick, Social Community Capital Team, Commercial Mid Market, Commercial Banking Graduate: I’m a graduate, currently in my second rotation in the Social Community Capital team. And fun fact, they’re an independent charity that has been funded and supported by NatWest. And what we do is we offer alternative funding to business, charities, and social enterprises that don’t qualify for mainstream loans. And it’s just so amazing to be part of a team that is dedicated to making tangible differences in communities.

Tom White, Securitised Products, Corporate Banking Structured Finance: I work in Securitised Products in C&I. The type of work, it involves is a lot of credit, a lot of understanding businesses, understanding ourselves, and the solutions that we can offer and how these, how these solutions can work for a customer, how it can help them realise their ambitions.

Carla Floyd, Head of Debt & Financing Solutions, Corporate Banking Structured Finance: It’s a fast-paced and dynamic environment, which is fantastic because I’m never bored. The external environment around us is always changing, so we need to stay on the front foot, anticipate change and what the key themes that may be that affect our customers and products and services, and then make sure we position the business around that.

Clara Slee, Financial Crime, RBS International: My role involves communicating information between regulators and stakeholders through writing reports, opinions, and analysing data. Working for C&I feels collaborative and exciting. It’s small enough that you feel like you’re part of a community and you really feel welcomed, but it’s large enough that you have a variety of people in work, and you really feel the change and experimentation.

Mike Rankine, Performance & Business Management, Customer Goals and Journeys: We are a business that serves customers from your, your local plumber or shop owner right up to, multinational companies, household names, household brands, etc. And actually how they can be very different but, in some ways, how they can be kind of be quite similar. So that’s a challenge I think to, to get your head around just just the scale of this business and the impact that it has.

Text: What do you enjoy most about working here?

Tom: What I enjoy most about working in C&I is its relevance to life around us. The transactions we do mean that we have to learn about companies that we see outside every day.

Andy Hunt, FI Solutions, NatWest Markets: But for me, it’s the people. I work with some brilliant individuals and teams across trading, structuring, legal and credit to name a few. But on a personal level, I think the business has made huge strides over the past few years to focus on the ‘me’, including on mental and physical well-being and life outside of work, including the major development around shared parental leave. For me, this is a huge differentiator to our peers and makes it a great place to work.

Carmen Cheng, Sustainability and Propositions, Commercial Mid Market: So whilst I really enjoy the flexible working, which helps me juggle my family responsibilities, I actually really enjoy coming into office to see people, to talk to people, even just a coffee chat sometime just really energises you and giving you new ideas.

Text: What surprised you since you started working here?

Anna Henderson, Business Architecture Enablement, Customer Goals and Journeys: One of the most surprising things that I’ve experienced since I’ve been here is the actual living up to the promise when NatWest says it invests in its people so people can thrive.

Shatta: I’ve been pleasantly surprised by seeing the amount of support and the resources that are there for someone that is in a graduate scheme. The commitment to nurturing new talent, but also same time providing real, impactful projects has really exceeded my expectations.

Tom: What surprised me most about working in C&I and NatWest is the importance of everything we do and how relevant it is to the UK economy.

Carmen: So what strikes me when I started working for the bank was the diversity of the people. And I’m not just talking about the ethnicity or the gender. But it’s also, for example, the education and the training background as well. You could easily be working with someone who’s been a lawyer for the past ten years, or someone who has a PhD in climate science, but also, it could be someone who has been working at a desk at a branch, who started there, but they’re working their way up as well. So it is very important because it creates a great environment for diversity of thought.

Text: How would you describe the culture?

Anna: I think the culture here is very interesting. I’ve worked in a whole variety of organisations. And I don’t think I’ve ever worked anywhere with a culture quite like that is at NatWest here.

Shatta: The way I would describe the culture at NatWest is as inclusive, forward-thinking and collaborative. It’s a place where diverse ideas are welcome and teamwork is always encouraged.

Mike: Also the great, great culture of learning, and the organization as well. So there are opportunities to learn so much, which is, which is great. And people given the time to be able to go to go ahead and do that and pursue things that they’re passionate about and things that will be important to the organisation in the future as well.

Anna: I think that the people here are really committed and really believe in the organisation in the way that you don’t often see with other organisations. I think there’s a real commitment to supporting the customer and a real belief that if we keep working hard, we can continue to make a real difference for people, and the wider world that we live in.

Carla: What’s fantastic is that we’re a team with a common set of goals around serving our customers, and that sense of unity is absolutely critical to our success.

What’s great about the programme?

Every area of our business is different – they each need their own skillsets, their own challenges, their own nuances. What better way to find out what working in a business area is like, than from the people who already work there?

Emma’s experience

See what Emma thinks about their experience in Commercial Banking.

Text: Tell us about Commercial Banking

Emma Maule, Commercial Banking Graduate: Commercial banking looks at how businesses can get their money that they need, it helps them with loans and other facilities.

Text: How has being part of Commercial Banking stretched you professionally?

Emma: The commercial bank has developed my financial analysis dramatically. You are encouraged as a grad to get involved as much as possible so it’s allowed me to learn quickly and understand if a company is able to afford the loan they’re asking for.

Text: What do you find most exciting about Commercial Banking?

Emma: I find the range of businesses most exciting, you can have a deal for one sector one day and then different sector the next day and no financial accounts will look the same.

Text: What do you find most challenging about Commercial Banking?

Emma: I find the size of the business the most challenging in order to understand all the different aspects of it and where I want to go for my career. And it can be difficult when there’s lots of acronyms, however the team is very helpful in being able to assist you in having catch-ups with different people to understand more about different areas and what is out there for you.

A group of three colleagues having a discussion in a collaborative space at our Gogarburn office.

Is the programme for you?

You’ll have the choice of working in either the Relationship Management or Customer Products and Propositions teams.

The aim of this eight-week Internship is to give you a taste of what it’s like to work here, along with valuable skills and experiences that you’ll bring into your future career.

Two paths within Commercial Banking

Relationship Management

If you like the idea of developing an entrepreneurial ecosystem that helps businesses grow, meeting customers and devising solutions for them, then Relationship Management could be the one for you. This is your chance to build insights into key sectors such as manufacturing, technology, real estate, construction, and land transport and logistics.

Customer Products and Propositions

If the sound of focusing on answering the bank’s most important strategic questions, whilst identifying new possible opportunities and solutions for our customers, then Customer Products and Propositions could be more up your street. This is an opportunity to analyse our current customer journeys, supporting the creation of new products and journeys to better serve our Commercial Banking customers.

Who can support you?

For the full eight weeks, we’ll pair you with a ‘buddy’ and a line manager, who’ll support you in gaining valuable experience to help guide your career choices.

During the programme, you’ll also work with other interns on a business project. This will help you develop key skills covering team working, planning, creative thinking, presenting, business plan writing and problem solving – gaining crucial experience in presenting to stakeholders. You’ll also get time to support good causes in the communities we serve through a community giveback day.

Woman smiling holding laptop

Your buddy

Your dedicated guide and supporter, they’ll help you answer all your questions and build your network within the bank.

Woman smiling

Your line manager

Your dedicated mentor and guide, they’ll work alongside you to set your goals, offer feedback and support your growth.

Group smiling to the camera together

The other interns

Your support network who are on the same journey as you.

Where can our programme take you?

At the end of the placement, we’ll assess you on what you’ve learned. Complete this successfully and you could be offered a place on our 2026 Commercial Banking Graduate programme, where you can carry the skills you’ve learnt forward and take the next step in your career.

What can you gain from the programme?

  • An understanding of what it’s like to work in a purpose led organisation that puts the customer at the heart of decision making
  • Knowledge of our culture, values and goals, and the products and services we provide
  • Considerations on how we work together to deliver an outstanding service for our customers

Application process

  1. CV with graduation cap on top of it; a pen leans on the CV

    Submit your application

    Find a role that’s right for you

  2. Desk with computer, books, table lamp, and a plant on it

    Work scenarios

    A work scenarios assessment

  3. Checklist with pen

    Reasoning skills

    A problem solving, numerical and reasoning skills assessment

  4. Film projector

    Video interview

    Record your response to questions about experience and potential

  5. Smartphone with a heart symbol in a speech bubble above a user profile silhouette

    Assessment centre

    A full day of virtual activities

  6. Smiling daisy flower

    Receiving an offer

    Feedback on the outcome of your application

Ready to apply? Start your journey here

Explore our step by step application guide for top tips and advice to support your success.

Meet our people

We all bring our own uniqueness to work, and why shouldn’t we. We’re encouraged to do so. Meet our colleagues and find out a little more about the people you could be working with.