The Problem: High street banks are closing, making access to cash, advice and support more difficult.
The Solution: Have one bank building on a high street, which serves multiple banks.
More and more high streets are becoming bereft of banks and post offices, and the banks that remain are open for ever fewer hours per day and days per week, making it harder for people to get advice and support. Banks are seeking to keep costs low and compete with online-only providers, so they lack the resources to keep all their branches open. Post offices have a similar problem.
I therefore propose to create financial shops on high streets. These would be much like banks, with a post office counter included as well, but would offer services to anyone. The shops would be staffed by well-trained and knowledgeable people who could log onto the systems of different banks (such as Barclays, Natwest, HSBC, etc) to provide services to their customers. They would also be able to provide business advice and start-up loan support, credit card services and loans, and other financial advice as needed.
Banks would pay a fee per shop in order for their services to be offered there, which would be far lower than running their own bank in the location. As several banks would be co-located, more resource can be spent hiring and training quality people to provide customer assistance and better opening times that actually work for people, such as increased late-night opening. Government financial services could also be provided through such centres, and comparison services for different financial products used. As advisors would be present in store, companies would have to compete on quality, not just price, for their products, helping to drive up quality.
There are issues around some people pushing the products of certain banks above others, but these are manageable. Indeed, arguably these centres should be run as a social enterprise to maximise customer benefit and wider benefits to society from sound financial advice.
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