The demise of local banking in Britain
May. 17th, 2019 09:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mtbcMy bank's branch nearest campus has closed so this morning I did something new to me though familiar to others: I deposited a check via the post office, whose branches are more abundant. I don't get to use the fancy bank machine that scans the check, reads the amount and prints me a scan on the receipt, but I am happy to try to not use a bank branch unnecessarily. For years British banks have been closing local branches as people's banking moves online, partly because the banks themselves do what they can to steer customers to automated alternatives. Every few weeks even I go to the bank, not because I choose to but because what I want to do must be done in person, typically for security reasons.
The banks quite reasonably say that it is costly to operate a branch but when I go into one it is a large, grand place filled with people able to handle all manner of operations on a walk-in basis. I would be quite satisfied with making an appointment in advance for a specific kind of activity then going to perform it in some unassuming small office above a retail store; perhaps what I want to do could be available only on a couple of afternoons per week or something, based on who's scheduled to be on hand. That might allow a bank to maintain a local presence far more cheaply even as their competitors have moved out of their grand main-street buildings. They could even turn up in a large mobile van for all I care. However, I may be unusual both in generally having in-person banking patterns that are amenable to short-term forward planning and in my not caring about the grandeur of the establishment. I am well aware of who ultimately pays for that grandeur: the customer.
The banks quite reasonably say that it is costly to operate a branch but when I go into one it is a large, grand place filled with people able to handle all manner of operations on a walk-in basis. I would be quite satisfied with making an appointment in advance for a specific kind of activity then going to perform it in some unassuming small office above a retail store; perhaps what I want to do could be available only on a couple of afternoons per week or something, based on who's scheduled to be on hand. That might allow a bank to maintain a local presence far more cheaply even as their competitors have moved out of their grand main-street buildings. They could even turn up in a large mobile van for all I care. However, I may be unusual both in generally having in-person banking patterns that are amenable to short-term forward planning and in my not caring about the grandeur of the establishment. I am well aware of who ultimately pays for that grandeur: the customer.
