Bank Bosses Criticized by MPs for Replacing Branches With Bathrooms

Marion Dakers and William Shaw
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

(Bloomberg) -- British customers are “perplexed” by substitute bank branches in unusual locations including a garden center and even a former public toilet, according to lawmakers.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Therese Coffey, Conservative MP for Suffolk Coastal, hit out at banks on Wednesday for forcing customers to queue in the rain at a garden center to access services, lacking the necessary privacy to discuss their problems.

“We have one hub in a public lavatory, I hope you are not proud of that,” Anne Marie Morris, the Conservative MP for Newton Abbot, told bank executives Vim Maru of Barclays Plc, Charlie Nunn of Lloyds Banking Group Plc, Mike Regnier of Santander UK and Paul Thwaite of NatWest Group Plc. “It’s nothing like what used to be offered in branches. You’re not working together.”

Speaking at the Treasury Select Committee, Morris said the hub policy was “fundamentally flawed — it was under-resourced, there are not enough people, there’s not enough money.”

Banking executives said customers were making the shift in online banking in droves, making many branches unnecessary. According to the consumer group Which, the UK has lost more than 5,900 branches, over half of its network, since January 2015.

Banking hubs were introduced in 2021 as a way to avoid service deserts. The hubs are chosen by LINK, a cash machine network, and run by the Post Office to provide financial services from various banks in areas where customers could otherwise no longer take out cash. The public can meet at hubs with representatives from nine firms including Barclays, NatWest and HSBC Holdings Plc.

There are almost 40 hubs in operation, with 100 expected to be open by the end of the year, said Barclays’s Maru.

“Over last five years branch usage is down 65% for us, app usage is up 120% over that period, so we’ve been responding to behavior shift and consumer demand and expectations,” Maru said. “As we have done that, we’ve increased the investment in the digital capabilities that our customers are demanding as well.”

Nunn said Lloyds was guided by its customers, and was investing significantly in Post Office ATMs and banking hubs. “When we talk to our customers, advice and support around key moments is important, but increasingly we see our customers can get better advice on the phone or digitally,” he said.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.