Community

Great post DB

I am astounded that people on the Finextra forum are still surprised at big banks closing branches. We've known for close to a decade that this was coming, and that customers just aren't using branches like they used to. Sure the #Brexit thing is an excuse, but until the market starts rewarding banks for branch closures by an improvement in their share price, then banks like Lloyds will very carefully position their branch rationalization.

For the ANON Finextra member that says this is all about community and Lloyds are letting their customers down, I simply say - if customers were using those branches they wouldn't be getting closed! People don't use branches anymore, we're all going digital because it's faster, simpler and requires much less effort. Now that digital experiences are an improvement on the branch, then there's simply no reason for people to visit, and simply no reason for banks to keep them. 

I welcome this move - it's the only way banks like Lloyds will survive.

BK 

Even Nostrodamus didn't get 100% right ;) BK

Sry here's the link to BR's post

https://www.quora.com/Why-havent-more-merchants-adopted-Apple-Pay/answer/Brian-Roemmele?srid=j2h  

Matt,

That's not how companies invest. It takes adoption in parallel to grow. I would encourage you to read Brian Roemmelle's post on Apple Pay adoption. It actually shows that compared with card adoption in the early days, contactless and mobile payments are growing at 10x the rate of cards/ATM. 

I really don't think we have a problem with adoption

BK 

Matt (from NCR),

How else do you get to the required level of penetration?

BK 

Ketharaman - no they don't, not if they're under 35. 95% of them have already debranched

See TechCrunch - http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/03/5-things-that-will-disappear-in-5-years/

Nice summary

There is absolutely no data to suggest that branches are economically sustainable, let alone expect growth over the next decade based on actual customer demand - none, nada. That doesn't mean that branches will disappear (or be completely and utterly dead).

It does mean that if you want to grow your bank, investing in branches is a fools errand compared with the potential cost-benefit returns on non-branch acquisiton and customer management. 

Branches are ultimately, as a class of channel, dead from a business perspective because they are economically unsustainable and will never provide growth again. If you want growth in revenue, you have to go non-branch. 

Some token branches will remain because of what you have said - anxiety, etc. But branches overall will not be sustainable 

Alex - sorry dude. I'm juggling too many comments today ;)