They say a change is as good as a rest, but will this prove to be the case with the Metro Bank? The first brand new UK high street bank for over 100 years opened the doors of its first branch in central London yesterday.
We at CO3 have long thought that the obvious unpopularity of the banking industry with consumers represented an opportunity for someone to shake up the system. Metro’s approach, based on a customer-focused, more retail-like experience, might be just what it takes to breathe new life into an industry which is largely felt to be untrustworthy and ambivalent towards its stakeholders.
The bank will be open seven days a week, with the exception of four public holidays a year, and its branches will be open until 8pm on weekdays. Bearing in mind that supermarkets and other retailers have been doing this for years, it is perhaps surprising that no-one has thought of applying this model to banking in the UK before. One of the co-founders of Metro Bank, Vernon Hill, has a strong track record in this area in the United States, notably with Commerce Bancorp, where he achieved enormous success by applying the business model he had used when running Burger King franchises.
Of course, there is no “magic wand” for restoring peoples’ faith in the banking system, and any revolution is likely to be “slow-burn” rather than “quick-fix”. There will always be cynics who will argue that various aspects of Metro Bank’s approach (such as providing water bowls for customers with dogs) are gimmicky. But it is not very long ago that people were queuing up to take their money out of banks. At Metro yesterday, long queues of potential customers formed to open their accounts to put their money in to a bank with no track record and a fledgling reputation. It will be interesting to see how Metro fares and whether the more established players follow their consumer friendly lead.
