With faltering steps, an elderly customer navigates her way to the end of a queue in the bright, airy and revamped branch of Barclays Bank.
She looks at the self-service kiosks, notes the absence of traditional glass counters, spots staff dealing with enquiries via tablet computers and turns to her friend. “It’s bedlam in here,” she says.
She might not be a tech-savvy, time-pressed, financially proactive customer, but she probably visits the branch twice as often as somebody half her age.
So, how can the banking industry convince her that the modern counter-free branch with more screens than staff is going to serve her better than the more traditional bank?
The British Bankers’ Association, which represents the major UK banks, says there is a “revolution” taking place in UK banking. Smartphones, contactless cards and competition are changing the way customers use their bank, it says. It points to the fact that nearly £1bn a day is transferred using the internet. Transfers using mobile phones and tablets are up 40% in a year. But 67 million transactions a week still take place in bank branches, and the BBA says there is still a need for a High Street presence. “While the size of these networks will decline, High Street outlets will remain important for those bigger moments, such as when a customer takes out a mortgage, wants to assess their financial options or resolve a complaint,” the BBA says in a report on modern day banking. As a result it is inevitable that the way bank branches look and operate will alter, it adds. Such a move is referred to, in business-speak, as the “change curve” by Steven Cooper, the chief executive of Barclays Personal Banking.
He started his career as a cashier in a Barclays branch in London at the age of 16. Now, 28 years later, he has overseen the change that effectively strips away the very counters behind which he used to sit. “I did not want a pane of glass between the customer and Barclays. I want it to be open, friendly and more comfortable,” he says.
New technology has changed the bodywork of the branch, and it has altered the way the engine runs too. A more automated system ends the “soul destroying” work of processing cash and cheques, he says. Mr Cooper has abolished his old role of cashier. Since the start of October, branch workers have been known as community bankers. These members of staff are now seen wielding a tablet computer in branches, dealing with enquiries that cannot be resolved at the self-service counters.