There are pundits in the financial industry who believe branches are dead. Most financial marketers, however, acknowledge that branches are not going away anytime soon, and that teller-based transactions will continue to occur — at least to some extent — for the foreseeable future. If your financial institution is among those sustaining its investment in branches, then there are some critical questions your senior leadership team should address:

• When you build a branch, is it designed strategically? Or do you simply duplicate what you’ve always done?
• Why do you use the layout(s) you use? What design decisions were made and why?
• If you only need 2-3 tellers 90% of the time, then why do you put in 8+ teller stations?
• Do you follow branch trends and study best practices? Or do you just hire some local architect to make something that looks and feels like a bank should?

Reality Check: Financial institutions are lousy retailers. They make many retail mistakes, starting with the basic layout of their branches.

Among the many lessons banks and credit unions could learn from retailers is the maxim, “Put the milk in the back of the store.” The underlying rationale is intuitive: Drive consumers past everything else you sell as they make their way to the one thing they need most often.

“Put the milk in the back of the store.” Duh, right?

Despite the fact that this expression is practically a cliché, the vast majority of financial institutions choose to completely ignore it. They put their tellers — the “milk,” as it were — everywhere except for where they should, including right by the front entrance.

This article examines the advantages of applying this basic retail principle and why financial marketers should locate teller/transaction areas in the back of their branches. Three different floor plans are presented, each demonstrating common flaws financial institutions make when designing their branches, followed by two examples where the “milk is in the back of the store.”

Common Flaw #1: The Split

In this familiar layout, the entrance opens into a shared common area (green), which divides the Transaction Zone (orange, left) from the Sales & Service Zone (red, right). Four Tellers sit across sit across from two sit-down Service Representatives and a modest waiting area. The design intent is to isolate the noisy hustle and bustle of high-volume transactions from the quiet privacy of consultative sit-down spaces.

Design Flaw: Unfortunately, the reality is that customers perceive an implicit barrier (indicated by the black-and-yellow strip) between the neutral public area and the Sales & Service Zone. Customers trust that as long as they stay in the green zone, a Sales Rep won’t sling sales pitches at them. Customers who need something know to step inside the red zone. Everyone else knows to stay out, and avert eye contact with “those people who just want you to open another account.”

Security Flaw: Bad guys always like to keep an eye on their exit while committing their crimes. This layout gives robbers excellent field of vision. They can easily scan the teller area and their escape route in one casual glance.

Merchandising Flaw: Retail Displays are placed near the entrance/exit where people are moving too quickly to pause or notice. This is a high-speed, high-traffic zone, not a “dwell zone.” People aren’t going to linger here. Anyone who stops to absorb marketing messages would be subject to the ‘butt brush factor.’

Common Flaw #2: The Straight Shot

In this example, the emphasis is on convenience, enabling customers to get to-and-from the Transaction Zone quickly and without obstruction.

Design Flaw: The “milk” may be in the back of the store…er, branch… but it’s a straight shot: customers walk in, conduct their transaction, then leave. The very instant customers enter the branch, they are focused on the queue, then zeroed-in on the tellers. On the way out, the only thing that has their attention is the exit. They get tunnel vision, so they never notice the Service Reps off in the periphery.

Security Flaw: Think about it…if customers can get in-and-out easily, so can robbers.

Merchandising Flaw: Customers may love this kind of branch because it makes things easy for them. Of course grocers could give shoppers an unobstructed path to the milk fridge too…but they don’t.

Again, it’s not generally very effective to situate marketing near entrances/exits. The message has to be very short and extremely simple — no creative abstractions or complex concepts.

AN EXAMPLE OF THE STRAIGHT SHOT FLOOR PLAN

Common Flaw #3: L-Shape

This layout is frequently used by financial institutions who believe it is important to have 8-10 teller stations available for those 1-4 peak days in a month (typically Fridays) when transaction volume is at its highest. This results in a long row of teller stations dominating the entire branch.

Design Flaw: Service Reps are tucked around a corner, so there are no opportunities for engagement. Customers could walk past the Sales & Service Zone a hundred times without knowing what goes on back there. How would customers know you offer home loans when they can’t even see you have a mortgage rep?

There may be the capacity to staff six teller stations, but how often will all six be staffed? What will customers think when they see employees at only two stations? They’ll think you look sad and abandoned, like airline counters on the graveyard shift. And God forbid a queue develops while you’ve only got two staffers manning your massive teller operation; customers will moan about how woefully understaffed you are.

Security Flaw: The closer you put tellers to an exit, the more likely you are to get robbed. In this layout, a robber could practically keep one foot out the door while passing his note.

Merchandising Flaw: With this floor plan layout, don’t be surprised if customers think of you as nothing more than a check-cashing store. No matter what you try to tell customers, the design of your branch says exactly what you’re about: processing transactions.

When tellers are near the entrance, you run out of space for retail displays, further limiting cross-selling opportunities.

Putting Milk in the Back of the Branch

There is one common problem shared by each of these three flawed branch layouts: Branch visitors must make a conscious decision and a deliberate effort to engage with Service Representatives. Service Reps are left twiddling their thumbs, passively waiting for a Customer to voluntarily upgrade themselves to a Prospect by stepping across the “barrier” and venturing into the Sales & Service Zone.

Situating your teller area in the back of your branches allows you to integrate Service Reps into the experience. “But just placing tellers at the back of a branch is not enough,” points out Paul Seibert, a principal at EHS Design and one of the world’s foremost authorities on BRANCH ARCHITECTURE. “The experience must be engineered to properly expose products, services and staff to customers as they move along the path to the teller area, and then back out towards the door.”

If people are coming in to conduct costly transactions in your branches, why not make them say “hi” to your friendly, personal employees and pass by a few of your marketing messages? It’s only fair, isn’t it? When you move tellers to the back of branches, you not only create opportunities for positive interactions, you give yourself more space for marketing.

What’s more are the security benefits you’ll realize when situating your Transaction Zone in the back of branches. If you want to minimize your risk of robbery, move your tellers as far from the entrance/exit as possible. Robbers prefer the shortest possible path between the teller area and their exit, and, preferably, to keep an eye on both locations at the same time.  Putting obstacles and people in front of robbers is good security. Putting smiles and promotions in front of consumers is good business.

The concept is known as SAFECATCH. Developed by the FBI in partnership with EHS Design, SAFECATCH requires customers and potential robbers to follow the same path, but each have very different psychological experiences. “Customers feel they are the center of attention and well-served, while robbers experience vulnerability and loss of anonymity as they move through the branch,” Seibert says. “When properly implemented, SAFECATCH reduces robberies by as much as 70%.”

The Open Floor Plan

This layout takes customers looking to conduct transactions on a journey to the back of the branch. Along the way, customers must navigate a path that passes both Service Reps and Retail Displays, giving the financial institution more flexibility, security and cross-selling opportunities.

Design Advantages: If you equip your sit-down desks with the proper technology, Service Reps can pick customers out of the queue whenever customers start to line up. For instance, a Service Rep who might spot someone holding a check can say, “Sir, if you’re just here to make a deposit, I can help you with that.” Shifting some of the transactional workload onto Service Reps during peak hours is a great way to reduce the number of teller stations you need. But Service Reps can only assist in this capacity if juxtaposed along the queue. Do it right and you won’t ever need 6-8 teller stations again.

EHS Design’s Seibert endorses this solution. “Over the past ten years we have seen the size of teller lines shrink from an average of 6-8 down to three or four,” Seibert says. “Managers and service representatives are getting out of their offices and working the line to help alleviate any crunches in the teller area.”

Merchandising & Cross-Selling: Savvy retailers don’t cave to every consumer desire, yet banks often build their branches to suit customers without giving any consideration to the organization’s strategic objectives. What you need to do is carefully craft the experience. You must engineer where customers go and what they see, because every time you get them to engage with one of your employees or retail messages — even briefly — it helps fuel potential cross-selling opportunities.

Security: Acknowledging people with a smile and a friendly greeting isn’t just a nice thing to do, it’s the FBI’s favorite technique for deterring robberies. Simply saying “hello” to a would-be robber cuts your robbery risk significantly. Robbers hate making eye contact with employees because they don’t want to be noticed. When bad guys realize they have to engage with your peppy, proactive employees on the way to rob your tellers, they’ll probably decide to move on down the street and rob your competitor instead — you know, the branch that isolates staff and offers robbers an easy getaway.

EXAMPLE OF AN OPEN FLOOR PLAN W/TELLERS IN THE BACK OF THE BRANCH

Using a U-Shaped Traffic Pattern

A greeter warmly welcomes people as they enter. Customers “bounce” off Service Reps and branded retail displays as they make their way back to the teller area.

Design Advantages: The Greeter, which replaces one of the tellers, is not a new fulltime position. The existing branch staff are reassigned and rotated into the Greeter position following a regular schedule. This means no one gets stuck with the same job all the time.

Most financial institutions improperly deploy Greeters. If a Greeter doesn’t have the right training and equipment, they become little more than a smiley, feckless lump. But if you use Greeters strategically and effectively, they will be able to intercept a significant number of those customers who don’t need to travel all the way back to the Transaction Zone. With some sly design, you can create a Greeter Zone that won’t look like someone is missing when the station is unstaffed.

The growing trend of online+mobile has put the number of in-branch transactions on an irreversible decline, so it’s smart to cut the size of your teller activities. In the U-shaped illustration, giving the Greeter and both Service Reps the right tools enables them to act like three additional tellers during peak hours. This is another reason you no longer need branches that accommodate an army of tellers.

Merchandising & Cross-Selling: A good Greeter can really help you build positive customer relationships. If they regularly assist customers with cashless transactions, there will inevitably be opportunities to teach people about alternative delivery channels. If the Greeter position is staffed by someone trained as a Service Rep, then they will be able to assist customers with their needs, or, alternatively, walk a customer over and introduce them to another Service Rep.

The U-shaped layout provides the greatest potential for retail marketing. Customers must look at no fewer than four walls before reaching the teller area. Plus there’s one more wall behind the tellers when they get there. Every one of these walls represents a retailing opportunity.

If you want to put a corporate identity display in your branches, there’s no place better than on the wall behind the Greeter. Financial institutions frequently waste the space behind tellers with a large logo and slogan. But the “teller backwall” (as its officially called) is premium real estate. Why put a logo there when customers already know where they are? The teller backwall should almost always be used for eye-catching digital displays that present the financial institution’s most attractive, most popular and most profitable products.

Security: There is no single robbery prevention technique more effective than a dedicated Greeter. Also, the U-shaped layout means robbers can’t see their exit during the heist (“Are the cops waiting for me outside?”) and they have a long, circuitous route out of the branch after they’ve got the loot. They have to loop all the way around the greeter backwall during their getaway.

[Please note: These examples are rough illustrations intended to illustrate concepts. They do not take into consideration factors such as location, size, technologies, products/services nor the commercial context of a branch -- all which significantly impact design decisions.]

Every now and then, someone in the financial industry suggests transforming branches into hangouts. Most recently, the author of a Bank Innovation article wondered why banks and credit unions don’t follow in Starbucks’ footsteps, becoming a “third place” by turning their branches into “destination experiences.”

It’s tempting to look at what Starbucks has done and think, “Why can’t we try that?” And when financial institutions see what Umpqua Bank and ING DIRECT are doing with their facilities, they can easily be mislead. “We should do that too.” They fall in love with the concept without understanding the underlying strategies driving each bank’s decision to create a café-style experience. ING DIRECT was an internet-based bank looking to reassure consumers by establishing some sort of physical presence. And Umpqua’s success has much more to do with its promotional, branch-centered events – like movie nights — than the bank’s innovative store design or the CDs it sells.

Reality Checks: Branches aren’t hangouts, and they never will be. Consumers generally have no interest in hanging out in banks. Almost every financial institution that has explored this strategy has found that it doesn’t work.

“Institutions trying to replicate Starbucks ‘third place’ have been generally unsuccessful with few exceptions,” says Paul Seibert, Principle at EHS Design, an firm specializing in BRANCH ARCHITECTURE.

“The real question is why do you want people to hang out in your branch?” asks Seibert. “What is the purpose? How does it help create business?”

THE ‘LETS-GO-HANG-OUT-AT-THE-BANK’ BANK

These guys abandoned this concept shortly after introducing it. One of the main reasons? Consumers were confused. Was it a bank or a coffee shop? Consumers weren’t comfortable with the cross-over concept.

MAUI WOWI SMOOTHIES & 3-MONTH CDS

Reliant Bank subleased some space to a smoothie shop but discontinued the relationship after only nine months due to staffing issues with the franchisee. Apparently, they had a problem keeping the location staffed. Reliant plans to replace the smoothie concession, and is currently in negotiations with another food service partner.

DEUTSCHE BANK’S Q110 STORE

This branch isn’t a prototype that will be rolled out across the Deutsche Bank network. It isn’t the future direction Deutsche is taking its branches. It doesn’t signal an emerging trend. Deutsche had a single branch located inside an upscale, high-end shopping area and needed to match its retail experience with consumer expectations and the architectural cues appropriate to such a situation. Banks should always adapt the design of their branches to fit the local context.

Jim Haack, a principal at Momentum, a design/build firm specializing in the financial industry, reminds us that there is always value in making your branches more comfortable and inviting, but draws the line a developing full-blown cafés. He says you can use these ideas — comfy sofas and gourmet coffee — to create what’s called “touchdown spaces,” an architectural term that is essentially a closing area for sales.

“Sales reps can use lounges areas as neutral turf to close deals,” Haack says. “Customers feel more at ease in a space that feels more like their living room than some guys’ sales office.”

Start Offering Free WiFi…Today!

Sarah Meyerrose, a banking consultant, thinks free WiFi is a way to dull the pain consumers associate with banking. “We all know banks are not a destination, but a periodic necessary evil to be avoided whenever possible,” she wrote on Bank Innovation’s website. “So why not offer free, fast WiFi?”

You can — indeed you should — offer free WiFi in your branches. Free WiFi for customers improves the experience by giving those with mobile devices the chance to utilize down time. If they are waiting for a service rep or a loan to be approved, they can use their mobile devices to pass their time waiting productively.

Reality Check: Someday soon, free WiFI won’t be a differentiator, it will be an expectation. Customers will get grumpy if you don’t have it.

“WiFi is an understandable customer expectation,” Brett King, author of the breakthrough book Bank 2.0, told The Financial Brand. “It gives customers more control over their experience.”

“HSBC Premier introduced Free WiFi in Hong Kong,” King explains. “Customer satisfaction almost doubled as a result of this in respect to their perceptions of the branch.”

If a few people occasionally drop in to use your free WiFi, that’s great. But just because you offer free WiFi does not mean you are trying to make your bank a hangout or turn it into a café. You can even call them “lounges.” Just don’t fool yourself into thinking that people will flock to your locations to loaf around and sip cappuccinos. It ain’t gonna happen.

There is nothing wrong with trying to make your waiting areas more warm, personal, inviting and comfortable. You probably already offer coffee, so why not offer good coffee? You already give people reading materials (albeit offline, old media magazines and newspapers), so why not give them internet access and let them read what they want to read?

Reality Check: Building cafés is way too far a departure from banking’s core business model.

“I just don’t think turning a branch into a coffee shop will save your branch if you don’t have a value proposition,” King cautions.

And don’t forget about all the issues with inventory, permitting and other sorts of nastiness associated with food service businesses.

“The more complex in terms of beverages and food, the less likely it is to succeed,” warns Seibert.

King offers this final word of advice: “Banks can use coffee and WiFi to make your stay more pleasant, but don’t think that it will make up for poor customer service.”

Plenty of financial institutions describe their service as “warm, friendly and personal.” But basic courtesies like a smile, a hello and a thank-you barely get you to first base. There has to be more to building relationships than waiting for tellers to remember the names of those customers who come in to conduct a high volume of costly transactions. Isn’t there?

Well here is an excellent way to spark conversations in your branches that is both simple and effective: In the workspace next to every teller and service representative, place a medium-sized placard with a mini-biography of that employee’s life, interests and hobbies.

Each employee only needs to pick five profile questions that they would be comfortable revealing, choosing from a list of maybe 10-20 options. Some suggestions include:

• Favorite movie
• Best vacation ever
• Last book I read
• Kids
• Pet/Dog
• What I do for fun
• Favorite station
• Food I can’t live without
• Favorite TV show
• Celebrity I’d most like to meet
• Where I went to school
• Years in the area
• Nickname
• Favorite band

You can think of additional profile questions to use if you’d like.

HR can screen employees’ answers to make sure no inappropriate material gets shared.

Countless consultants are telling financial institutions to embrace social media and “join the conversation.” But how many have mastered the basics of face-to-face relationships? Shouldn’t that come first?

Any bank or credit union struggling with on-boarding or cross-selling should give this a try. It’s fairly intuitive to see how slice-of-life biographical profiles of your employees would trigger lively, engaging customer conversations. Anything can happen when customers get comfortable with employees after finding some common ground. But don’t just dump a bunch of placards on everyone’s desks and expect magic things to happen. You have to train staff on how to maximize these conversations and turn them into opportunities. Otherwise, you’ll do nothing more than increase your average time-per-transaction.

If you expand the program to include every employee from the CEO on down, you’ll likely witness the team-building benefits that come when co-workers forge deeper interpersonal relationships.

This simple-yet-effective relationship-building tool would work for just about any size financial institution, but it is perfectly suited for smaller, community-focused banks and credit unions — especially those who aspire to be viewed as neighbors or friends, which is a smart strategy because people have such low opinions of bankers these days. It’s a good idea to distance yourself from the greedy, stingy, no-good image bankers have today by “humanizing” your staff (and, by extension, your brand’s image).

If you’ve never heard of Dell Credit Union, Ohio State University FCU or Kohl’s Credit Union, there’s a good reason.

They don’t exist.

It might have something to do with the branches US Bank has built to serve the employees working on the campuses of those organizations. Through US Bank’s On-Site Banking program, some of the largest companies in America are able to offer financial services to their employees via on-campus branches.

The list of US Bank’s On-Site Banking clients reads like a who’s who of American business and higher education:

• Best Buy -180,000 employees
• P&G – 135,000 employees
• Kohl’s – 133,000 employees
• Dell – 96,000 employees
• Thomson Reuters – 55,000 employees
• Caribou Coffee – 6000+ employees
• Schwan’s – 22,000 employees
• Hewitt – 5,000 employees
• Ohio State University
• Marquette University
• Gonzaga University
• Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
• St. John’s Mercy Medical Center

Reality Check: 50 years ago, the branches on these companies’ campuses would have all been credit unions, not banks.

Watch this six-minute video from US Bank, and you’d swear you’re hearing a strategy straight from the credit union playbook. In the video, US Bank outlines its On-Site Banking service, promising to customize everything from BRANCH DESIGN and hours — even its products and services — for the employees of large companies.

US BANK – ON-SITE BANKING

A six-minute video overview of US Bank’s On-Site Banking service. “Having a US Bank On-Site branch on your campus, is a great benefit for your employees and a no-cost addition to your campus,” the video’s narrator says.

Credit unions have — or, more accurately, “had” (past tense) — been serving companies with on-campus branches for more than 100 years. In fact, practically every credit union in the U.S. got its start by tying itself to a large employer. It wasn’t that long ago that the largest credit unions in the world sported the names of the corporations they once served exclusively: Boeing Employees Credit Union, John Deere Employees Credit Union, American Airlines Credit Union, Lockheed FCU, GTE FCU, Dow, Hewlett Packard.

Today, credit unions are building branches for the mass public and expanding with community charters while mortal enemies like US Bank build branches in corporate HQs and factories. Irony?

“We created this new way of banking in 2005 when we considered the changing banking patterns of our current and future customers,” Richard Davis, Chairman/President & CEO of US Bancorp, says in the video.

Today, US Bank’s On-Site Banking has grown to more than 60 locations at corporate, health care and college campuses.

“What makes On-Site Banking unique is skill and scale,” says Rick Hartnack, Vice Chairman/Consumer Banking at US Bank. “We have developed the largest on-site banking operation in the country, and that scale has given us the ability to run this business better than anyone else.”

It’s unclear by what measure US Bank considers its On-Site Banking operations “the largest in the country” when there is Navy FCU with 3.5 million members, 179 branches and $40 billion in assets. And State Employees Credit Union with 1.5 million members and 225 branches.

Reality Check: US Bank touts On-Site Banking as an innovation, but “the only thing ‘innovative’ about this is that they spent a lot of money to make a video,” as Frank Rauscher says in a comment on BankInnovation.net.

Branch in, vending machines out

The most common concern US Bank hears from On-Site Banking prospects is “We don’t have enough space.”

“Every single partner we’ve worked with has had the exact same challenge,” says Daniel Hoke, Division Manager/US Bank On-Site Banking, in the video.

Hoke says US Bank customizes solutions for each unique situation. “We take into consideration the aesthetics and the limitations on the space itself, and we can come up with a creative solution to make the most of what’s available.”

In one location, US Bank completely gutted a space used for vending machines and squeezed a branch into it.

“You’d be surprised at the spaces we can utilize,” says Denise Zajac, District Manager/US Bank On-Site Banking.

Tip of the Hat: Thanks to BankInnovation.net for finding the video.

Video banking has been around for a few years now in the U.S., but FirstOntario Credit Union says it is the first in Canada to offer it.

Much like an ATM, PAT spits out cash and takes deposits. But PAT, short for Personal Assisted Teller, has a number of features you won’t find on your typical cash machine. It can handle coins. It has a digital signature pad. And, most notably, PAT has a live video interface so users can interact with a real teller while they do their banking.

“PAT offers live video-banking, with the service of a teller and the convenience of a banking machine,” says FirstOntario. “PAT is as secure as using a banking machine or going directly into the branch.”

PAT uses uGenius remote teller technology to connect users with on-screen service representatives using live streaming video. FirstOntario says most of the daily banking you would normally do face-to-face can be done at PAT, including deposits, withdrawals, check cashing, bill payments and Canadian drafts. Only FirstOntario members can trigger the live video chats with tellers.

To stimulate the public’s interest in PAT, FirstOntario is holding a “Bonus Cash Giveaway,” where withdrawn bills will randomly be replaced with larger denominations. There are six weekly prizes with bonus cash totaling $250. Each week PAT will randomly dispense:

• One $100 bill in place of one $50 bill
• One $50 bill in place of one $20 bill
• Two $50 bills in place of two $10 bills
• Two $50 bills in place of two $5 bills

FirstOntario says it introduced video tellers as a way to stretch service hours at its branches. “The beauty of PAT is that we can extend hours,” Dave Schurman, EVP/COO at FirstOntario, told CHCH news in an interview. “We could virtually go 24/7, 365.” Indeed, that’s what Mid-Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union did late in 2009 with its video tellers.

About the strategy, FirstOntario said, “PAT is sure to appeal to our younger members while still keeping the human touch that older generations love.”

PAT is currently installed in only one location, but there are immediate plans to roll units out at three other branches.

FirstOntario hints that it may build PAT units in other areas where it doesn’t have branches. “We are also looking at strategic partnerships to launch PAT in remote locations,” FirstOntario said. Translation: FirstOntario is looking to sublease space (within a mall or store for instance) vs. building freestanding PATs. Stay tuned…

Analysis
There’s a fierce debate raging within the financial industry about what role — if any — branches have in 2010 and beyond. While some argue that branches are doomed to obsolescence, others see a future for branches as service centers, with smaller footprints focused on high-value products and resolution of customer issues. Oddly, neither side ever discusses how video tellers fit into the equation.

Why not deploy video tellers as stand-alone kiosks in areas where it’s impractical to locate branches? Walk-up or drive-through. For financial institutions looking to expand their footprint without a huge investment in bricks and mortar, video tellers seem like the obvious solution. Perhaps the future will see more video tellers handling routine transactions, while regional service centers focus on high-value financial services across wider geographic areas.

With the press of the “chat” button, PAT connects users with a teller via video.
The unit includes solutions enabling tellers to verify someone’s ID and signature.

VIDEO TELLER DEMO/OVERVIEW
A very thorough 5:45 video demonstration and overview of uGenius video banking technology.

DBS Bank in Singapore is crowdsourcing concepts for a “youth branch” concept with its “I-Designed-A-Bank” contest. The contest seeks Gen-Y’s help designing branches that will appeal to young people and their lifestyle.

DBS not only claims its contest is one-of-a-kind, its future “youth branch” will be the first in Singapore designed specifically to meet the unique financial needs of Gen-Y.

DBS hopes its contest for a new branch concept will engage young people while providing them with opportunities to showcase their talents.

“We are excited about collaborating with the young to create a branch banking experience for the new generation.”
— Jeremy Soo, DBS Consumer Banking Group

“Today’s youth are confident, assertive and vocal,” said Jeremy Soo, Managing Director & Head, Consumer Banking Group Singapore, DBS Bank. Their lifestyles and needs have evolved with the times and they no longer communicate in a traditional manner.”

“We want them to express themselves, register their say in the future of branches and tell us how DBS can best meet their banking needs,” Soo continued.

The contest runs June 11 through July 30, 2010. Teams of up to four people can enter. There are two categories: 26 and younger, and all-ages. There will be three winners per category. First place pays a cash prize of SGD 5000 (around US $3,500), second place SGD 4000 (US $2,850), and third SGD 3000 (US $2,125). The judging panel includes representatives from DBS and  the design industry. Winners will be announced in mid August.

DBS has over $250 billion in assets, 14,000 employees in over 30 countries across Asia.

Analysis: If you’re thinking about running a crowdsourcing promotion, this is how you do it. For starters, it’s the right kind of project. Asking people to provide conceptual ideas for a BRANCH DESIGN is much better than asking them to produce TV commercials. Do you really want to have amateurs crafting the marketing messages shaping your brand’s image? Thanks in large part to the healthy cash prizes DBS is offering, the bank will likely get many interesting and creative ideas. They can use what they like and ignore what they don’t, unlike make-your-own-TV-spot contests where entrants expect to see someone’s winning ad airing on TV after the contests conclude.

Alberta Treasury Branches, doing business as ATB Financial, is a financial institution and crown corporation owned by the Province of Alberta. ATB operates exclusively in Alberta, providing financial services to 670,000 Albertans.

In its early days, ATB operated in smaller, remote areas that bigger banks didn’t deem profitable enough, and offered services banks didn’t, such as licenses for hunting, fishing and even marriage. In 1978, it launched its first mobile branch, Treasury Branch Mobile No. 1, which serviced northern Alberta. In 1990, ATB became the first financial institution in Canada to offer telephone banking.

Today, ATB is the largest Alberta-based financial institution, with $26.5 billion in assets, 165 branches, supported by approximately 5,000 associates.

”It was time to be more of an innovator, less of a bank.”

In 2007, ATB was ready for a transformation. They wanted to return their innovative roots to distance themselves further from their now not-so-much-bigger bank competitors. ATB knew that engineering a new retail BRANCH EXPERIENCE was critical to that transformation.

ATB partnered with Karo, a Canadian branding and environmental design company, for to develop a retail strategy that they would term “the branch of the future.”

Karo started by touring 10 ATB branches. They noted that visibility and interaction between tellers and personal banking staff were hampered by layout and traffic flow. Tellers and personal bankers were doing a lot of walking.

Karo also recruited ATB employees who were given journals to record notable interactions with customers and colleagues. One employee reported in his journal, “It’s really awkward to shake someone’s hand from behind the teller counter.” Karo’s own observations noted that counter heights created an obstacle to building relationships with branch visitors.

ATB didn’t want a cookie-cutter approach. They felt it was important that each branch be relevant to the community it was located in. They also wanted to buck the trend among banks looking to close branches by pushing customers online. ATB believed they could strengthen existing relationships and cultivate new ones by creating a space that encouraged people to stay longer and do more — an environment in which they felt comfortable, relaxed and welcome.

ATB slated three branches to be rolled out in Calgary. For one of the three prototypes, the largest of the three, Karo conducted contextual research including an inventory of businesses in the immediate vicinity. Within four city blocks of the branch, they found 28 restaurants, pubs and cafés. Clearly, installing a café in this ATB location — something many banks have done — did not make sense.

17TH STREET CORRIDOR
Karo showed ATB that the area slated for one of the prototypes was already packed with cafes and pubs. Who would choose to hang out at a bank branch over their favorite bar or coffee shop?

Gone are the ropes surrounding a strip of carpet. Instead, a concierge immediately greets customers. The concierge station is deliberately designed to be a standing position so this employee can “float” and mingle. (Karo later found that this could be disorienting for some if the concierge was not immediately accessible.)

Next stop: the “Dream Centre” the lounge in the heart of the branch where customers and employees can grab some coffee and strike up a conversation. (The staff room has no coffeemaker for this reason.) Customers can also browse the magazines, or use of one of the internet stations. In the Dream Centre, a digital community calendar displays events happening in the area, and local businesses can display their own material along with the other reading materials.

Also gone are the traditional teller counters. In the new BRANCH EXPERIENCE, customers find themselves sitting alongside employees, with no window or computer creating a barrier. According to Karo, “The new seated arrangement makes it easier to have a conversation and underscores the idea that both parties are working towards a solution together.”

The “Wow Wall” is 90 square feet of LCDs and rear-screen, motion-sensitive projections facing the street. The interactive video wall features a moving tableau of imagery and brand messaging to grab pedestrians’ attention.

Similarly, the welcome wall inside senses movement. As a person draws near, it transitions to scenes of beach holidays, new homes and other aspirational imagery. “People are lured in, both physically and emotionally,” Karo says.

THE “WOW WALL”

THE “DREAM CENTRE”

SIT-DOWN SERVICE STATIONS (RIGHT)

This past weekend, Beneficial Bank christened two new education-themed branches in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The bank describes the branches as “campuses,” designed to be hubs for both learning and the community at large.

Both the new branches incorporate a “Financial Learning Library” (something the bank is trying to claim a trademark on) with shelves stocked with books and e-readers focusing on financial education.

For kids there’s the “Little Learners’ Corner,” with activities and books to teach children about money and saving.

Beneficial says it will hold free financial educational workshops for the general public every week at the branches.

“Beneficial is not only a bank, it is an education company that puts a priority on providing customers with the tools and resources that they need to become smarter about their money and do the right thing financially,” said Gerard P. Cuddy, President/CEO.

The bank intends to use these two new campuses as the blueprint for all future branches.

Analysis

Beneficial’s long-term commitment to a BRANCH DESIGN centered around financial education seems risky. Why would the bank pour money into offline financial libraries when it could be building a modern, online “campus” dedicated to financial education?

You’d think a bank that describes itself as “an education company” would already have financial education resources online, but Beneficial doesn’t. There are a few personal finance tips buried deep within the bowels of Beneficial’s website, but good luck finding them. Start at the homepage and try it yourself. (Tip: You’ll have to use the sitemap, but you might have a hard time finding that as well.)

And if you take a look at Beneficial’s Twitter stream, you won’t find anything related to financial education there either.

The new branches are nice and will likely out-perform other, more traditional designs, but ultimately, it seems Beneficial’s claim about being an “education company” isn’t much more than PR spin applied to an architectural façade. If you’re going to boast about your financial education efforts, at least look like you walk the talk.

Only 10% of high net worth clients think private banks are relevant to them. The Identity Group thinks it has a design concept that could change that. They created a conceptual prototype for a differentiated luxury experience targeting high net worth individuals.

There are five different themed meeting rooming in Identity Group’s lifestyle concept:

1. Cigar Room – An elegant English interior, good ventilation and high-quality congac.
2. Golf Room - Sometimes meetings can last for hours. Take a break and stretch your legs playing a round on a virtual reality golf course, or enjoy some mini golf.
3. White Box – A minimalistic interior with understated elegance envelopes an art gallery.
4. Yacht – For the super rich, this should feel like a comfortable and familiar place.
5. Wine Room – Rich woods and fine wines. What else would one need to make banking enjoyable?

Clients can choose which meeting room they would like to use, depending on their interests, hobbies and time of day. Meeting rooms can be used by clients for business and private purposes on demand.

Identity Group feels it’s important to keep back office staff totally apart from high net worth clients. There should be as little employee foot traffic from employees in client area’s as possible. They recommend all support staff and functions be located on a separate floor.

Based in Ukraine, Identity Group specializes in the design and implementation of BRANCH DESIGN standards for banks.

You might think that bank robberies would be on the climb during The Great Recession. But so far, that hasn’t been case. Using official FBI data, The Financial Brand looked at bank robbery statistics for the 47,242 robberies of U.S. financial institutions that occurred between 2003 and 2009. The study showed that even though Americans are reeling from one of the worst economic periods in the country’s history, bank robberies are actually on the decline.

In 2003 there were 7,442 robberies, dropping to 5,943 in 2009. That’s nearly 1,500 fewer robberies.

Every year, there are between 5,000 and 6,000 commercial banks robbed, compared with fewer than 500 credit union robberies. Commercial banks are the most common target, representing 88.8% of all robberies.

Demand notes are used in 56.7% of robberies. Robbers threaten to have a weapon 45% of the time. When a weapon is used, handguns are the most common. Slightly more than one in four robbers reveal their handgun. A mere 3% threaten to possess a bomb or other explosive device.

Robbers have not gotten much smarter over the years. Despite harsher penalties for using a firearm in the commission of a felony, the same percentage of robbers use guns today as they did seven years ago.

A total of just under $46 million in loot was taken by robbers in 2009. That’s an average haul of only $7,736.50.

Contrary to popular belief, the risk of robbery does not increase significantly on Fridays. A financial institution is no more than 4% more likely to be robbed on a Friday vs. any other weekday. The risk is only three times greater for a robbery on a Friday than on a Saturday. An alarming 7% of robberies occur on Saturdays, which is quite surprising considering the shorter branch hours and fewer number of branches that are open.

More than a quarter of all robberies occur between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Branches are at their highest risk of robbery in the first two hours after they open, with the level of risk diminishing slightly as the day progresses. The fewest daytime robberies occur in the last three hours of the day (between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.) Only 7% of all robberies occur after hours (between 6 p.m. and 9 a.m.).

2009 was the first year the FBI started tracking takeovers as a method of robbery. In 2009, there were 306 takeovers, representing only 0.6% of all robberies.

The perpetrator of a robbery is predominantly male. In 2009, the ratio of male to female robbers was 16:1. 41% of perpetrators are white, 46% black, 8% Hispanic and 5% from other ethnicities.

Out of over 47,000 robberies in the last 7 years, only 9 employees and customers were killed.

Between 2003 and 2009, a total of 136 people have been killed in the course of financial institution robberies, 108 of them were perpetrators (79%). In those seven years, a total of 28 people other than perpetrators were killed, only 9 of which were employees or customers.

In 2009, all 21/21 of the people killed in the commission of a robbery were perpetrators. It’s quite likely that 2009 was the first year in U.S. history where no one other than perpetrators were killed during a robbery.

Enjoy this portfolio of nine innovative facilities and branches from banks and credit unions around the world.

GE Money Bank – Czech Branch

This branch for GE Money in Czechoslovakia by design firm IDEO features a welcome counter, learning library, self-service zone, transaction area, kids play sets, and “coves” for private meetings. The branches use an electronic queuing system where customers register when they arrive, and a bank employee comes out and finds the customer when it is their turn.

Red Canoe – Retail Branch

A collaboration between Weber Marketing Group (branch MERCHANDISING), EHS Design (architects) and Momentum (design build) resulted in this integrated retail BRANCH EXPERIENCE. Note the teller “pods” in the transaction area.

Webster Bank

The MERCHANDISING experts at Brand Partners carried Webster Bank’s brand blue color throughout the space, helping to create an integrated experience involving several well-defined “zones”: exterior, ATMs, entry, welcome desk, lounge, transactions, and online stations.

Bank of Baghdad – AK-47s

Vision, a brand and branch consultancy in the Middle East, incorporated a “Welcome Desk” for the Bank of Baghdad that conceals “security equipment” — a thinly veiled euphemism for “AK-47s”…four of them.

The Cooperative Bank

International design firm i-am associates designed this bank’s branches to be green, professional, efficient, fluid, curvaceous and “sensual.”

Delta Community – Headquarters Office

The HQ for this $3.5 billion credit union is stylishly designed without feeling expensive. Seems like it would be a nice place to work.

Sugamo Shinkin Bank – Colorful Blocks

For this bank’s 43rd branch, Emmanuelle Moureaux Architecture + Design redesigned the bank’s entire brand image including the branch interiors, façade, logo, graphics, signage and brochures — ARCHITECTURE-design-sugamo-shinkin-bank-niiza-branch.html"title="Open blog post in a new window" target="_blank" target="_blank">all built on squares.

Alta Vista – Branch Design

Another branch from the partnership between Weber Marketing Group, EHS Design and Momentum. The new environmental MERCHANDISING designs for Alta Vista’s program were based on the credit union’s existing brand.

Velocity Credit Union – Curvy Branches

Clark Mente Architects designed this branch with lots of curves; high, open, industrial ceilings; and modern, contemporary stylings.

When The Financial Brand first ran a story on convicted-bank-robber-turned-branch-security-expert Troy Evans back in November, the article quickly became one of the most popular ever published here.

Now Troy is sharing his knowledge, advice and insights on branch security with readers of The Financial Brand in this 45-minute DVD training video, “Deterring & Responding to Robberies.”

This DVD+CD package includes advice and recommendations on branch security from many different perspectives including Evans, a long time security consultant and law enforcement officer, the CEO of a financial institution as well as a teller.

This will be a valuable training resource for your financial institution for years to come, arming your employees with practical knowledge and tools they can use. Give your employees the ongoing training they need to prevent robberies, aid the in the apprehension of thieves and help recover funds.

About Troy Evans: Troy is a professional speaker and author featured on Good Morning America, CNN, FOX and in The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Newsday, The New Yorker and more.  Troy has also written “From Desperation to Dedication: An Ex-Con’s Lessons on Turning Failure into Success.”

Training Program Details:

• Program contains a 45 minute CD/DVD with training materials
• Train your entire staff whenever, wherever
• Quick implementation with every new hire
• Small group settings and set regular re-training schedules
• Save expenses on guest speakers, renting meeting space and time spent out of the office
• Easily incorporate the materials to complement your existing in-house training program

Sections:

• Robbery Prevention: Reducing Your Risk
• Robbery Response: Protecting Customers, Members and Staff
• Robbery Response: Aiding Law Enforcement

Running Time: 45 minutes

Formats: A two-disc DVD and CD set

Price: Normally $399, but available to readers of The Financial Brand for only $299 through Amazon.com.

About the DVD, Joe Ellison, CEO/West Virginia Bankers Association, said, “Our bankers appreciated the practical tips on how to avoid and handle a bank robbery situation. Some of the suggestions were so simple to implement, yet never previously considered as robbery deterrents.”

Umpqua Bank opened what it describes as a “boutique store” last month in Northwest Portland, Oregon. Umpqua calls the 1,385-square-foot store its first “neighborhood store” offering “banking, innovation and a place to connect with the community” to both businesses and the general public.

Umpqua’s says it wants its stores to feel like neighborhood hubs. “Every square inch is maximized to provide personalized, community-focused experiences,” the bank says.

“Similar to cafés and other gathering places, Umpqua’s neighborhood stores provide people with an engaging space to browse local merchandise, shop online, enjoy a cup of coffee and learn about community events and resources — in addition to banking.”

Umpqua Bank’s neighborhood store strategy is designed for stores approximately 1,500 square feet in size which can be built in 45 days, compared to the industry average of 120 days, reducing the bank’s construction costs and building time by more than 50%.

All of Umpqua Bank’s neighborhood stores are fully equipped to offer personal banking, mortgage lending, small business banking and commercial lending.

Umpqua’s neighborhood stores have Discover Walls. These multi-screen displays deliver a choreographed video experience in an interactive, sustainable presentation of products and services. Customers can print and takeaway only the materials they want and need. Umpqua’s neighborhood stores feature electronic bulletin boards providing community information and neighborhood event calendars.

There is access to computer cafés called MyBooth that support community and provide connection to online resources. The stores also incorporate enhanced banking automation technologies, including cash recyclers that maximize space and improve store associate efficiency and security.

For the last 5-6 years, Umpqua’s RETAIL BRANCH concepts have been widely celebrated for challenging conventional banking practices and design. The latest location is one of three equally-notable neighborhood stores Umpqua has in Portland.

Umpqua Bank has 153 branch locations in Oregon, northern California and Washington.

The following is a showcase of breakthrough RETAIL BRANCHES from the team at Brand Partners (now out of business).

M&T BANK – BRANDED ATM SURROUND  (BALTIMORE)
This multi-dimensional display incorporates a fresh, new brand identity into the branch. Sheets of acrylic in the brand’s colors layer over a white acrylic backlit shell. Two alcoves house a pair of ATMs. Notice how the use of metal and plastic finishes combine to create a more modern, high-tech impression.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN BANK – BRAND DISPLAY (MONTANA)
You don’t need a lot of fancy materials or complicated hardware to make a dramatic display. Sometimes all it takes is scale. The copy on the display says, “Great things happen when you dream big.” Various “wishes” float in the center: “4×4 Extended Cab Pick-Up,” “Starting Your Own Business,” College Education,” “Mountain Lodge Getaway.”

NATIONAL CITY – ENTRY ZONE (MILWAUKEE)
Giant window clings surround the ground floor level of this National City entrance.

NATIONAL CITY – WINDOW DISPLAY (CHICAGO)
This teaser display says, “On February 9, you can say ‘hello’ to a new way of banking.” Smart marketers make use of their retail window displays.

NATIONAL CITY – WINDOW DISPLAY (CLEVELAND)
Some operations people express concern about blocking windows with clings. “What if we’re robbed?” Surely, without window displays, you may be able to see what direction a robber flees. But you aren’t gaining much for the marketing sacrifice. Here, National City is promoting holiday gift cards, which also helps introduce a seasonal festive element to the branch.

UNIVERSITY CREDIT UNION – TRANSACTION ZONE (MAINE)
Floor and ceiling cues help define spaces. Hard surfaces are used in high-traffic areas, while carpeting is used in “dwell zones,” such as the lounge shown here. An ovular suspended ceiling element hovering over the checkwrite suggests the start of the queue. High ceilings create a more open and inviting feeling. Notice how the soffit behind the teller area is used for MERCHANDISING (dimensional lettering).

INTEGRA BANK – STOREFRONT (KENTUCKY)
If you have a lot of windows, you need to give a lot of consideration to how your branch looks from the outside. Does it look clean, simple, professional, inviting? Or does it look dated, conservative, cluttered, boring? The combination of lighting and a consistent application of the brand’s signature blue color creates a clean retail “storefront.”

BOFA – BRAND DISPLAY (NEW YORK)
Layers of suspended acrylic not only communicate messages about the BofA brand, the overall display looks like corporate art. It’s almost a sculpture.

SOVEREIGN BANK – BRANDED MERCHANDISING (BOSTON)
A combination of wood paneling, warm fixtures and a consistent application of the Sovereign color create a comfortable, moderately upscale environment.

SECURITY NATIONAL BANK – BRANCH INTERIOR (SIOUX FALLS)
Circular architectural elements help soften the stiff experience most consumers expect from financial institutions. This branch has a smooth, flowing floor plan that balances the need for both public and private spaces.

WEBSTER BANK – BRAND DISPLAY (CONNECTICUT)
This multi-part display tells Webster’s brand story and presents the bank’s core values. Brushed aluminum, vinyl lettering, dimensional lettering and an acrylic disc.

Reviewed and written by Jeff Stephens, CEO of Creative Brand Communications,
with Jeffry Pilcher, Publisher of TheFinancialBrand.com.

“Visions FCU Rocks.
Where young people
do their banking.”
— Visions FCU
Facebook page

Despite having a branch near Binghamton University, home to over 14,000 students, Visions Federal Credit Union struggled attracting young adults. Over the past few months, the credit union has tried to fix that with its Vision FCU Rocks program. The initiative involves a number of traditional- and non-traditional marketing tactics designed to raise their profile in the student community.

Coinciding with the start of fall term, Visions launched a youth-oriented microsite at VISIONSfcuROCKS.org. The site is geared towards students, taking the unusual approach of promoting financial products at two specific age segments:

• For ages 13-17, the credit union offers Smart Start Loans (to $350), computer loans, auto loans and Youth Visa Credit Cards.
• For ages 18-25, Visions offers auto loans, computers loans, no-fee Mastercards, Student Visa cards and student loans.

Key Question: Why doesn’t Visions promote any checking, savings or other DDAs to either group? Why is it all about loans?

The microsite streams contemporary music tracks while visitors can learn more about the credit union’s various promotions, such as its “BFF Photo Contest.” The current promotion on the VISIONSfcuROCKS.org website invites participants to rewrite the lyrics to “The 12 Days of Christmas.”

VISIONSfcuROCKS.org

12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS LYRICS CONTEST
“We’re asking you to come up with some new lyrics to this old song, ones that reflect the things that you really want! Be creative, be cute, and be crazy!”

On the surface, the microsite looks good, but a little digging reveals that it isn’t very robust. Over half of the links open to pages on the main Visions site, which is visually very different. It would be better to have all secondary pages on VISIONSfcuROCKS.org integrated into the microsite to create a more consistent and cohesive online experience.

Social Networking with Gen-Y

“Gen Y is important
to Visions Federal
Credit Union. Visions
offers Gen Y Initiatives.”
– Visions FCU website

As part of its effort to reach Gen-Y, the credit union also created a Facebook page (386 fans) and Twitter stream (182 followers). “These social networking sites are changing the way that our Gen-Y members are doing business,” the credit union says. “Visions has decided to utilize them as a way to communicate with this growing part of our membership.”

You can read the credit union’s entire Gen-Y strategy on the Visions website, where they discuss “social networking,” “financial literacy” and why “Gen-Y is important to Visions.”

A “Gen-Y Friendly Branch”

Visions also expanded with a new branch situated adjacent to University Plaza, an off-campus apartment complex for Binghamton students. The branch interior boasts a contemporary, colorful design, featuring a music café with headsets that hang from the ceiling, free WiFi, bean bag chairs, four full-service ATMs, a community bulletin board and large flat screen TVs broadcasting sports, news, and credit union marketing messages.

CONCEPTUAL RENDERINGS OF THE ‘GEN-Y FRIENDLY’ BRANCH

Visions promoted the new branch on the university’s radio station, distributed invitations in student orientation bags and mailboxes, and even printed custom t-shirts. Back in September, the credit union held a Guitar Hero Tournament at the branch to welcome back Binghamton University students returning for the new semester.

The credit union also partnered with Musicstream LIVE, a service that promotes financial literacy to young adults through live music, to hold a pair of concerts. Concerts held at the university and a local high school drew a combined total of over 1,500 students. Visions emceed the events, and hosted a booth where students could enter to win prizes and get more information about the credit union.

“This program creates awareness in the community that our credit union cares about the future of our young adults and does it in a non-traditional way,” said Jayne Searles, AVP Marketing & Business Development. “Feedback from administrators at both schools was fabulous. They thought it was a unique way to get the message out and a great way to start the school year off for their students.”

BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY FEST 2009
Videos of the Visions-sponsored concerts show the credit union talking a lot about themselves and financial topics. With a strong brand presence at the event (including banners and booths with prize drawings), a one-sentence introduction might have sufficed.

Visions FCU, has over $2 billion in assets and more than 122,000 members, with 23 branches throughout Central New York and Northern Pennsylvania.

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About the author: Jeff Stephens is founder and CEO of Creative Brand Communications (CBC), a full-service bank and credit union branding and marketing agency. CBC helps financial institutions find their story, tell it, and most importantly, prove it.