Agreed, been a Barclays customer for decades, I originally banked with Woolwich building society who were bought over by Barclays. From my experience, they have been slow to innovate, I now use Monzo for pretty much everything I can’t do through Barclays with open banking, it’s been a game changer for me.
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As a result of the closures, HSBC will have 441 branches, with 96 of them “full service”.
Another 172 are “cash service” offering access to cash and simple over the counter services and 173 are “digital service” with no counters and self-service points.
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Oh, so a bunch of colocated ATMs with slightly more buttons than usual ones is now called a branch?! Cute marketing spin.
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There’s really no point to that at all.
The reason people still visit branches is either because they want/need the human interaction, or because they are dealing with physical things like cash and cheques.
A cash machine that also accepts deposits as well as withdrawals isn’t going to cut it, yet they will still have the usual branch-associated costs for maintaining the building, etc.
I suspect they know that usage of the “transformed” branches will go right down, and within a couple of years they will then be able to produce the perfectly-evidenced usage decline data, fresh for a “branch closure review” document.
This is a very bad look from HSBC here, they appear to be deliberately gaming the system.
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If, however, these digital branches have a member of staff wandering around, helping people use the self service machines for the first time, or perhaps even simply explaining what self service machines are… then that doesn’t seem unreasonable to me?
What are counter services actually used for these days?
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The main usage of a branch, I’d suggest.
Sorry, I meant, why are people still going to branches? Why does someone need a counter service?
I have sympathy for banks wanting to close branches - they seem largely unnecessary to me and they’re hugely expensive - but appreciate they need to find solutions that work for customers with special needs, who we must not inadvertently exclude from the baking system.
I’ve got a feeling it’s all going to go this way, and then rely on the Post Office for branch services.
Each bank will pay the Post Office to serve their customers.
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I’ve often wondered why the Post Office? They are pretty much going the same route as banks with closures. Plus I find (sorry) the staff are really often not very… customer focused let’s say.
I would have thought supermarkets were a better fit for banking since they really aren’t going anywhere. Or modernising ATM’s to do most banking activities.
We don’t seem to have vestibules like in other countries. Where you need to swipe to enter but then can do a number of banking activities but relatively securely.
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I’ve used them to pay in a (higher value) cheque and to pay in coins in the last year. My local branch doesn’t have one of those automatic sorters.
Everytime there’s someone in front of me that is using the counter for something they could do themselves. But some people like to talk to a person. The same reason some people choose to get everything out of their trolley, bag it up and put it back instead of using a quicker option in a supermarket.
From a business perspective I completely understand them closing them.
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Mostly, as @Revels says, they don’t need a counter service, strictly speaking, but they prefer it.
The reality is that most people who like to use cash and cheques are also the kind of people who aren’t going to want to use a machine, even if the machine could provide what they want. They like what they know, or they find technology difficult, or all sorts of other reasons (disability, loneliness, etc) mean they either find it easier to (or they actually need to) talk to a person.
What they are actually doing, I would guess, is fairly basic banking stuff like paying-in or withdrawing cash, paying in cheques, asking to check their balance, asking for a printed mini-statement or asking branch staff for advice.
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HSBC have separate machines in those branches for:
- cash deposits;
- cheque deposits;
- coins (some branches);
- cash withdrawals
As well as facilities for customers to use internet/telephone banking in branch.
Keeping these branches open allows them to do ‘higher value’ things like mortgages etc. which may require more interaction without needing to offer counter services
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I know, but as I said before I don’t think that setup is really all that useful to a large segment of branch-reliant (or branch-preferring) customers.
Thing is HSBC have been using those machines for at least a decade so must know how they impact customers.
Personally, I would like to see the coin machines at more branches and longer opening hours - too many branches are now weekday only.
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Anyone else on Natwest seeing patchy notifications? They used to be super fast, but recently I’ve had two that I’ve received hours after the event (paid money into account/ online card payment). The balance has updated straight away, though.
Same here, it’s not just you. I’ve had a few things take a while to come through.
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Strange, they used to be as fast as Monzo, wonder what has changed…