As transactions in bank and credit union branches continue to decline, financial organizations are looking for new ways to use space, insert new technologies, provide cross-channel integration and create a better customer experience.
10. First Tech Credit Union Introduces Consultative Branch
Like many organizations, First Tech Federal Credit Union realizes that foot traffic is declining across the banking industry as customers turn away from traditional branches to online banking. They still believe that the bank branch remains a vital resource for customers, especially those seeking more complex banking products and services. That’s why First Tech is evolving the in-branch experience away from the teller row to be more consultative with a ‘Central Relationship Center’ akin to a lounge for more comfortable, collaborative interactions along with private member suites for the complex, private conversations.
“The most notable difference in the Bellevue branch design is that we’ve replaced the traditional teller row and new accounts desk environment with a central Relationship Center,” said Brad Calhoun, vice president, retail branches. “The Relationship Center is where our members and reps can grab a comfortable couch or stool together and conduct face-to-face conversations or transactions in a comfortable, collaborative, flexible environment. We’ve armed our financial reps with mobile technology that allow them to move with our members around the branch versus making our members come to us.”
The second key difference is the addition of four private Member Suites. Calhoun reports that First Tech members are increasingly managing routine transactions online and are more often visiting branches to discuss complex financial needs, such as home loans or investment portfolios.
Stephen Owen, First Tech’s chief retail and marketing officer. “To be a true partner, we believe we must transform from a servicing environment into a stronger consultative environment where we’re collaborating with our members, determining their needs and recommending solutions that help them move forward financially.”
11. Baoshang Rebrands Bank and Branch
In recent years, Baoshang Bank established the strategic vision of “To Become a Modern, World-Class and High-Quality Bank.” The bank was challenged, however, because it lacked in development of ideas and a positive brand experience.
To address these challenges, the bank worked with various agencies to formulate a new brand strategy with a logo and design system reflecting a modern and fashionable global image. Part of this redesign is reflected in the bank’s newest branch.
The new brand is helping in the Bank’s development and positioning within the industry and around the world.
Jim Marous is co-publisher of The Financial Brand and publisher of the Digital Banking Report, a subscription-based publication that provides deep insights into the digitization of banking, with over 150 reports in the digital archive available to subscribers. You can follow Jim on Twitter and LinkedIn, or visit his professional website.
If google was a bank they’d sell data on what you spend and how much you spend on it to advertisers, no doubt about it!
I had the privilege of working for the HSBC Group (one of the worlds largest banks) for seven amazing years, leading the retail centre of excellence, which included how the c8500 retail branches looked and felt, including a dozen or so different formats and brands.
One of the expressions that always puzzled me when dealing with my colleagues both internally and externally at conferences etc was “The Branch of the future”. It seemed to be an all encompassing expression that more often than not, meant spending a lot of their banks money on a flashy new design, which in some cases looked suspiciously formulaic and remarkably like some other bank’s branches but in their own banks brand colours or indeed adding some fabulous coffee shop implant or print your own T shirt centre, OK so I made that last one up, but it wouldnt surprise me! This was often done without considering what the overall customer experience you were trying to create was or what the primary business objectives were.
Personally, my golden rule at HSBC was to invest time in getting the brief just right, I’d often spend a few months working on the brief, understanding what the business objectives were now and researching the market as to what they may well look like in the future.
So when it comes to creating your own “Branch of the future” my advice is simple, research your brief thoroughly, your design agencies will thank you for it and will deliver something better aligned to your business’s commercial requirements. Focus on what the role of the branch is within the overall business and how it needs to remain relevant over the coming years, don’t be dazzled by the design, be single minded about how you can ensure you future proof your branches in a changing omni-channel world, not creating yet again another branch of the future with a T shirt printing centre!
Are there any statistics on increased activity in these futuristic branches? They look relatively empty. And I find it a stretch that somebody would come in, pitch camp, and surf the net like they do at a coffee shop.
~ Jeff
http://www.jeff-for-banks.blogspot.com
Jeff, this may be one explanation: architects love taking pictures of branches just as soon as they are completed — before they have that “lived in” look.
If Google Was A Bank…
Branch will be or not, but surely in different form, but real question is:
What to do to be a future worldwide Bank ?
– Transform from Bank of Financial Data to Bank of Data (ref. Chris Skinner book Digital Bank)
– Significant change in organization (“banks will be predominantly IT or technology companies in the near future, with banking simply the utility provided through that technology.” – ref. King, Brett book Bank 3.0)
– Changing Know Your Client strategy (socialization of client)
– Active presentation in Social Networks
Think who is nearest? Who can make quicker and better transformation?
Google and Amazon (who already manage our information and make money of that) or Big Banks (where is our money now, but with very conservative view about future organization and conservative relationship with clients)
The bright shiny ball is fun to look at, but Richard makes the key point! We need to spend time on the strategy of the future–not the boutique design of the future! Today, banks & CU’s are too quick to spend huge dollars on design and little if any time developing unique strategies and building organizations to animate those strategies! This is the urgent challenge of the times.
The Wynwood C1 branch is a huge attention-grabber, but it’s not a good fit for a financial institution, in my opinion. Dislocated pop-art and distracting day-glo patterns would not make me feel comfortable at all. That said, South Florida is something of a candyland, so maybe it complements the rest of the architecture there.
And why is there a shower?
Completely agree with Richard and Matt. We contributed to some McKinsey research on this topic which found that few of these ambitious branch of the future projects increase the rate of revenue growth and leave many banks disenchanted.
The research concluded that banks were often following intuitive design led approaches that did little to shape customer visits, with many banks holding the mistaken belief that large capital investments, long payback periods and extensive format changes were required.
We’d advise banks approaching these types of projects to put utility before appearances, make greater use of lower budget tactical adjustments and design branch formats to actively shape the pre-determined flow of customer visits.
It would be really useful to understand what all of these banks did to equip and empower their branch staff to deliver the ‘customer experience of the future’. A cool new smart store experience + a cool new interaction experience the is real winner. Jim, it would be terrific if you could feature the investment that these banks are making into the people component.
You hit on a great point. The investment in the physical structure means nothing if the experience doesn’t reflect a new way of banking. We continue to look for case studies that illustrate the investment (and ROI) in the branch model. If you find something, let us know.
Excellent points. The illustrations of some of the design in this article are to illustrate where some banks and credit unions are heading today. Not saying right or wrong, but looking for thought starters as many institutions know what they have today is not paying off and that changes must be made.