Saga in talks with NatWest over personal banking tie-up

Saga in talks with NatWest over personal banking tie-up

Over-50s group Saga said it was in final talks with lender NatWest over a range of personal banking products as it looks to expand its money business.

The group, which offers cruises through to insurance services for people over 50, said a savings offering would be the first product set to launch under the tie-up.

It said: 鈥淭his partnership would combine NatWest鈥檚 scale and banking capabilities with our customer insight and marketing strengths and support our ambition to continue growing our money business.鈥

鈥淔urther updates will follow in due course,鈥 according to the group.

The discussions come after London-listed Saga struck a 20-year partnership for motor and home insurance with Belgian firm Ageas late last year, while also agreeing to sell its underwriting business Acromas to the group.

The sale is expected to completed by July 31.

In its update on Tuesday, Saga said demand for holidays remained robust, with booking revenues up 14% and passengers numbers 13% higher than a year earlier.

Saga鈥檚 ocean and river cruise division enjoyed 鈥渁nother strong start to the year鈥, with its load factor 鈥 how well it fills its cruises 鈥 up year-on-year at 95% and 93% respectively.

Mike Hazell, group chief executive of Saga, said: 鈥淪aga has started the financial year on a positive note, with all our businesses performing well and in line with expectations.

鈥淟ooking ahead, we are focused on continuing to grow our travel and money businesses, while successfully transitioning to our new simplified insurance model.

鈥淲e are progressing well with our medium-term plans and the potential new partnership with NatWest is another good example of this.鈥

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