1. Islandsbanki – Head Office Branch
This branch, situated in Iceland’s tallest building, merged three separate locations into one. The design features three distinctive, interlinked zones. The ‘Quick Serve Zone’ at the front of the branch integrates facilities for self-service and desks staffed by universal bankers. The ‘Community Lounge’ is located at the heart of the branch, a homely environment where customers can relax, enjoy complimentary coffee, and chat with branch staff. The branch also offers a wide array of events for both customers and the community at large — a showcase for the bank’s equivalent of Ted Talks and similar seminars. In the ‘Engage & Advise Zone,’ staff share agile meeting spaces, with dedicated workspace found in the back office. (Photos by Bernhard Kristinn.)
Design Credit: Allen International
2. ING Direct – Client House
ING opened its first Client House in Belgium. The space is designed to balance both the digital + personal aspects of banking today. Employees are on hand to offer banking services to customers, and all of ING’s digital tools are on display. The Client House also has various meeting rooms each equipped with digital screens and video conferencing systems.
“There are moments in people’s lives when they want to talk to a banker in a setting where everything is at hand to quickly take the right decision,” said Erik Van Den Eynden, CEO of ING in Belgium. “A client house to me should feel like home. The people side is as important as the digital aspect.”
ING expects to open another 15 client houses in Belgium by the end of 2020.
3. HSBC – Flagship Branch for Premier Banking
This two-story location was designed specifically to serve HSBC’s Premier Banking clients — an up-market segment for high-income depositors. The branch is open and welcoming, yet affords varying levels of privacy for quick, informal chats and more intimate, sensitive meetings with relationship managers.
4. NAB – Sydney Flagship ‘Brand Beacon’
This concept includes spaces for seminars, co-working zones and pop-ups. The storefront creates visual interest and adds to the texture, vibrancy and character of the streetscape.
The ground floor functions as the retail store — a technology-enabled transactional environment. Instead of traditional tellers, roaming hosts act as concierges to assist customers with self-service transactions and to direct them to the appropriate specialists for more complex financial conversations. Armed with tablets, staff can demonstrate the latest digital tools and self-serve functions in branch. In-house hospitality is provided through the Wise Foundation Barista Program, which helps people seeking asylum to gain work experience and training.
A test-and-learn zone serves as an “working lab” environment where staff and customers alike can experiment with new prototype products that may impact wider store network.
The stairs double as a space for NAB seminars, curated functions and other community-based activities.
A co-working environment is situated on level one with multiple typography facilitating various collaborative, co-working and meeting settings.
Design Credit: Warren & Mahoney
4. Lloyds Bank – Super-Size Café
It may look like a slick HQ in Silicon Valley, complete with its own coffee shop, chic “breakout pods,” the latest biometric technology and an events program, but it’s actually Lloyds Bank branch in Manchester. This “super-size branch” measures a whopping 15,000 square feet and cost £3 million (roughly USD $4 million).
Lloyds says the Manchester outlet is the first of a small number of flagship branches to be opened across the UK under the Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland brands. They will provide a hub in some of the UK’s major cities.
Design Credit: M Worldwide
Read More:
- Capital One Cafés: Coffee Shops or Bank Branches?
- 9 Spectacular Headquarters Designs From Banks and Credit Unions
- Are Tiny Pop-Up Branches Banking’s Brick-and-Mortar Future?
6. Umpqua Bank – HQ Flagship Branch
Part hangout, part café, part bank; the space provides comfort and amenities to its neighbors whether they are customers or not. Comfortable seating, a small library and a full coffee and tea bar invites customers and neighbors alike to sit and stay a while. Community conference rooms are available free of charge. The entire retail space is also available for community events.
Design Credit: Ditroën
7. Virgin Money – Haymarket Lounge
Virgin Money Lounges are unique in the banking world. They are designed to be interesting, stimulating and, above all, comfortable places where customers and local communities can come together. Lounge visitors can choose to put their feet up and enjoy the facilities, use the lounge for an informal meeting or do some actual banking.
Just a short-walk from Piccadilly Circus, the Haymarket Lounge offers customers the opportunity to relax, watch TV, or browse a range of Virgin Money information on a huge interactive touch screen display.
When customers descend to lower ground, they may forget they’re in a bank altogether and expect to be asked to take their seats for take off. Given Virgin’s history in aviation, the lower floor has been designed in the style of the interior of an airliner with real airliner seats, overhead lockers and floor lighting to guide the way.
Design Credit: Allen International
8. Ardent Credit Union
Sb1 Federal Credit Union undertook a major rebranding initiative, including a name change. The newly minted Ardent Credit Union opened its first freestanding location as part of their transition from primarily serving a single employer to the community at large. The space has a contemporary and industrial feeling that also exudes a comfortable, homey vibe — like a modern loft.
Design Credit: La Macchia Group
9. Skipton Building Society – New Ideas Centre
This branch exudes a casual feeling that’s both open and welcoming. Just like the kitchen is the heart of any home, the “Ideas Kitchen” is the heart of this location. The domestic setting features items such as globes and travel books that staff can use as conversation starters.
The design team behind this concept said they found inspiration in service-based environments like airline lounges.
“It’s the generous gestures in those settings that count towards a positive experience,” explains Lee Holden, Divisional Manager at Skipton Building Society. “At Skipton, the tea-making ritual is one of those key gestures. People used to congregate around the fire, then they congregated around the TV, but they’ve always congregated around a cup of tea. That’s the sort of culture we wanted to bring into the branch.”
Design Credit: M Worldwide
10. Bankwest – Perth Flagship Branch
Traffic-style markings evocative of pedestrian intersections create a directional, striped floor, and vertical signage pylons act as speed bumps, assisting with customer navigation. Standing and seated “Meeting Hubs” for fast, easy consultations have motion sensor-activated light lenses overhead when occupied.
The freeform, suspended “Expert Bar” offers a place for convenient face-to-face advice, and the “Browse Bar” hosts customer-use PCs, iPads and FREE WiFi. A seminar zone allows for free in-store sessions, and includes merchandise displays from sponsors.
There’s a self-service fast-track zone within the entry bay for regular customers to access with ease, and a series of glazed private meeting spaces for more in-depth consultations.
Design Credit: Design Clarity
11. Mashreq – Staffless iBranch
Mashreq introduced its “iMashreq” branch concept of self-service banking for its customers in the UAE. The new branch allows customers to make banking transactions without having to interact with staff.
The branch leverages video conferencing to provide specialized advice to visitors, and offers the latest generation virtual teller machines and ATM experiences.
Opening a bank account, making a utility payment or applying for a new credit card can be all done on the spot using digital devices placed in the branch. Customers can even print their check books on the spot.
Design Credit: David Horton
12. TSB – Neighborhood Branch Experience
The experience is designed around three distinct zones: Transact, Consult and Explore. These areas help create clarity for branch visitors, while also shifting the employees’ mindset from product sales to customer service. An interactive touchscreen and a stand offering free umbrellas are both informal conversation touchpoints for partners with customers.
Design Credit: Household Design
13. Nationwide Building Society – Flagship Concept Store
This space is designed to help consumers with their financial well-being, and aims to address people’s anxieties surrounding money. The concept affords varying levels of interaction in four distinct service zones: Conversation, Convenience, Community and Consultation.
The interiors have a homey, eclectic feel divergent from the ‘stiff office’ aesthetic of traditional banks. Furniture, greenery and natural textured surfaces build a sense of warmth. Exposed brickwork was chosen for its symbolic value, linking back to houses and property (a product at the core of Nationwide’s strategic foundation).
Each branch also features a community lounge for a variety of local activities. Members can book the space to host small interest-group gatherings, read or share on the community notice board, chat to trained staff, or simply relax, read a book and sip on a beverage.
Design Credit: Dalziel Pow
14. Arion Bank – Experiential Branch Design
This strategy behind this concept was to move away from a transactional, process-driven approach and instead create an experiential environment. The branch shuns traditional counters, and the flexible and reconfigurable space feels more like an Apple store than your typical bank, incorporating experiences that are digitally seamless and integrated with other channels.
Design Credit: M Worldwide
