I used virtual reality goggles to view my bank statements. Is NatWest’s new VR app really the future of banking?

As I scan the room, I see lists of the most detailed bank account details floating in the air before me. Including thousands of transactions made over the past year. Welcome to the brave new world of banking, where it’s possible to apply for a mortgage deal in principle within ten minutes, with the flick of a wrist.

I’m at NatWest’s headquarters on Liverpool Street, London, to try out the new virtual reality (VR) banking app, which went live two weeks ago.

Through the VR headset, in the centre of my field of vision, I see a collection of bank statements, direct debits and account balances. The centre of the screen looks exactly like the NatWest iPad app.

VR technology has long been popular among gamers, but it’s not exactly the best way to manage your finances.

However, NatWest assures me that the technology will offer its customers, as well as those who save with Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank, a new way to manage their money at a time when banks still guide their customers online.

It marks another step away from personal banking. Almost every month a High Street bank announces it is closing hundreds more branches as online services increasingly replace face-to-face contact.

Lloyds, Barclays, Halifax and NatWest closed 40 branches last month as they sought to force customers to use live chat, digital assistants and mobile phone apps.

The VR app offers even sharper savings rates than customers can get by phone, post or even in a branch. However, these rates are also available online and via the app.

Wendy Redshaw, Chief Digital Information Officer at NatWest Group, believes VR banking offers “a glimpse into what the future of banking could look like”.

NatWest is the first High Street bank to use it in this way. ‘It’s great to be a first mover with such exciting new technology,’ she says. It takes a few minutes to set up the headset and after a few attempts to log in to one of NatWest’s trial accounts, the app is up and running. I can see a test bank account suspended on a translucent 3D screen in front of me.

It is smooth and there are no hiccups.

The virtual and real worlds merge seamlessly and I place the rectangle with my bank details to the left of my body, so that I can still see my surroundings.

At first it feels like I’m wearing heavy ski goggles and I get nauseous as my eyes adjust to the headset’s internal screen.

I take the headset outside to see how it works, but I’m abruptly turned away and walk straight into a tree, hidden behind my bank details.

Once I’ve found my bearings, I move my right index finger up and down in the air in front of me at shoulder height to scroll through a list of all the debit card payments on the test account over the past few weeks.

Thanks to motion sensors on the glasses, I can control the screen by simply moving my wrist. It takes a few minutes to learn each hand gesture and the associated commands, but once I’ve mastered them, I can open and close windows and navigate between web pages in seconds.

Sliding my finger to the left brings up another window where I can break down my expenses into 12 categories, including transportation, dining out, and groceries, and set budgets for each. I then hover my finger over a purple button on the left side of the page, which opens a menu of products I can sign up for.

I am shocked to discover that with the headset I can take out a credit card, a loan, and even a mortgage in less than ten minutes. All it takes is a little pointing in the air or a pinch of my fingers to close the screen.

Needing some advice, I ask Cora, NatWest’s virtual assistant, to help me close a savings account that no longer offers a competitive rate. Typing my query on a virtual keyboard that hovers at about hip height proves difficult and takes much longer than on my computer.

Home banking: what the VR screen looks like to the viewer

Apoorva Varma Mehta, who developed the VR banking app, suggests I try to operate the keys by moving my eyes. However, this only works for people who don’t wear glasses or contact lenses, and unfortunately I always need to wear either.

Several features of the mobile banking app are not yet available in the VR version, including being able to scan a check with your camera to deposit it into your bank account. Some security measures are also missing from the VR banking app, requiring users to log in with a passcode.

While the technology is impressive, Apoorva acknowledges that it is unlikely to become popular overnight. “In the first week, we had ten downloads,” she admits.

‘Only a small group of people will be able to use the headset to do their banking because it is so expensive. ‘At the moment we think it will mainly be wealthy people and tech bloggers who want to use it.’

The software can only be used on an Apple Vision Pro virtual reality headset, which costs £3,499. Apoorva stresses that while adoption has been slow, the device could pave the way for future developments in the banking sector.

“We are still in the early stages of experimentation, trying to understand what possibilities this new technology offers,” she says.

“It’s certainly not something that’s going to replace telephone banking.”