Rugby child genius talks money management with RBS boss

Mog Stinchcombe, who rose to fame as the star of Channel 4’s Child Genius, travelled to RBS’ London headquarters to meet Ross McEwan after six months as NatWest’s first underage advisor.

The 13-year-old maths wizkid shared his findings over the past months with Ross as the banks hope to support children worried about their lack of money management skills.

“I’ve learned my peers don’t know enough about money and I was keen to talk to Ross about what the bank is doing to help me and my friends,” Mog said.

“I think it’s really important that young people learn about money.

“From speaking to Ross, it’s clear that it’s a priority for him too as the bank plans to teach even more young people, like me, the financial skills needed to prepare for adult life.

“It was great to meet him – he’s pretty cool for a CEO!”

Mog’s mission was spurred on by figures NatWest’s MoneySense programme uncovered.

These showed 55 per cent of young people aged seven to 15 worry about their lack of financial knowledge and nearly two thirds of parents also fear their child will grow up without a good grasp of managing money.

In the meeting, Ross shared his childhood memories of learning about money.

“As a child in New Zealand, my first job was mowing my grandmother’s lawn and my mum instilled in me the importance of having a bit of money in my pocket, I had to save a bit and spend a bit,” he said.

“That’s a lesson I’ve carried into my adult life and is why I am so passionate about the work we do through the NatWest MoneySense programme.

“As a large bank, we have a particular social responsibility to educate people on how to make good money decisions.

“That’s why over the past 22 years we’ve helped 4.5m young people through our MoneySense programme.

“The aim is to reach an additional 1m young people by the end of 2018 and we’re working with schools across the UK to get there.

“It’s a big goal, but with the help of parents and schools, I’m confident we’ll reach it.”

For more information about the Moneysense project, visit www.mymoneysense.com/natwest.

You can look back at Mog’s journey as junior consultant to NatWest on the bank’s YouTube channel.

Rugby child genius becomes bank consultant