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It seems that the rules governing the opening (and operation) of single banking centres could soon be relaxed.
If so, this will be great news for many communities that have so far failed to meet the strict eligibility criteria set by banks for a centre to be established.
This could also result in existing centres providing a broader range of banking services than they do today, increasing their relevance to consumers and small businesses.
Is there hope on the horizon? It seems that the rules governing the opening (and operation) of one-stop banking centres could soon be relaxed
For those of you who are not familiar with hubs, they are community banks that, under one roof, offer basic services to personal and small business customers of all traditional banks.
Their set-up costs are funded by the big banks through an organisation called Cash Access UK and are administered by the Post Office.
Once a week, staff from the major banks are on hand to offer face-to-face advice. So far, 147 banks have been given the green light, although only 71 are open (finding a suitable location is often a nightmare).
Currently, call centers are only allowed in cities that have lost their last bank branch, but a city without a bank does not automatically guarantee the existence of a call center. Quite the contrary.
Tulip Siddiq, from the Labour Party, is economic secretary to the Treasury
Banks, which are parsimonious with their own money, have so far set strict conditions for their opening.
Firstly, the town must be considered “big” enough to accommodate one person (something quite subjective). Then it can’t have a Nationwide branch on its high street because the banks believe that the presence of the building society makes the need for a trading centre redundant.
As banking expert and community bank advocate Derek French has long argued, this is patently false (and there is no surprise here) because Nationwide does not offer banking services to small businesses.
So if a city is left with a Nationwide and no banks, local small businesses are left with minimal access to traditional banking services.
An unsatisfactory situation: French’s home town of Harpenden is in a similar situation.
However, it now appears that banks are being forced to rethink their expansion plans. Not because they have suddenly become so bright-eyed, but as a result of pressure from the new government, which wants to have 350 centres up and running by 2029 as part of its ambitious plan to revitalise the country’s struggling high streets.
One of Labour’s few good ideas so far, which probably means it will soon die. Banking industry sources tell me that a vote is currently underway among banks to relax their criteria for opening trading venues.
If the “relaxation” gets the go-ahead (we should know early next month), it could mean that up to 20 cities previously denied a hub for having a Nationwide branch will get one. Hooray, I say.
Priority will be given to towns where Nationwide branches have restricted opening hours (e.g. Kenilworth in Warwickshire and Rugeley in Staffordshire). Harpenden should also have a hub.
In the future, cities left without banks when the last branch closes will not automatically be deprived of a hub because a Nationwide branch is located on their main street.
This should increase the rate of new centre openings and the chances of Labour’s promise of 350 centres being met.
Along with this pressure to create more hubs, banks are also likely to come under huge pressure to improve the services they offer through them. Tulip Siddiq, Labour’s economic secretary to the Treasury, is keen to make progress on this issue – and she is quite right in her line of thinking.
Earlier this year I went to Cambuslang, just outside Glasgow, to visit their successful centre.
Community representatives I met there said the centre could have a much wider rejuvenating impact on the local area if only its services were expanded and opening hours extended.
I like being by the sea…if money comes for free
Shocking: It is shocking that Brighton train station does not have a free ATM on its premises
It’s good to be back at work after a revitalising week exploring potential places to live in Brighton, East Sussex, as well as swimming in the sea (we found no jellyfish), walking the South Downs, admiring the beauty of Devil’s Dyke and marvelling at restaurateur Jane Bom-Bane entertaining her clients by singing whilst wearing a model house on her head.
Yes, it’s completely weird, but this troubled world needs eccentric characters like Jane to keep us sane.
Of course, work was never far away. I will make two observations about the banking sector I experienced during my time in glorious Sussex.
Firstly, it is scandalous that Brighton train station – a seething mass of humanity at all hours of the day and for much of the night – does not have a free-to-use ATM on its premises.
Instead, those looking for cash are met with a plethora of ATMs charging a £1.99 withdrawal fee. “Where we are needed,” the screens scream.
No, what Brighton station needs is free-to-use ATMs. The Link ATM network, which champions free access to cash, should come to the rescue.
Secondly, it was a pleasure to visit the seaside town of Eastbourne, and not just to see a majestic Lancaster bomber dominate the cloudless blue sky for ten minutes as part of the town’s annual airshow.
What struck me most as I walked through the city towards the seafront was the large number of open bank branches (all the big brands were on display). It was a pleasure to look at them.
Perhaps Eastbourne’s thriving banks are a reflection of its predominantly elderly population, who prefer personal service to dealing with soulless machines. And perhaps, despite that, some of them will close in the near future.
But I am convinced that they play a key role in giving Eastbourne’s high streets a vitality that other towns without banks have long since lost.
Labour’s Tulip Siddiq, a campaigner for thriving high streets with accessible banking services, should visit the town. While she’s at it, she might as well hear from the many residents who have had their winter fuel payments waived by her boss, Rachel Reeves.
They also liked the idea of the community bank becoming a community centre, incorporating other key services such as advice on eligibility for benefits (pension credit, for example) and perhaps a mini-library.
These are great ideas that Siddiq should champion.
The shortcomings in banking services in financial centres are currently appalling and, frankly, unacceptable.
For example, new bank accounts cannot be opened. This is crazy, as staff from major banks are present at all centers on specific days.
These bank employees should certainly be able to help people open new accounts and thereby generate new business (and revenue) for their employers. Everyone wins: the bank, the centre and the local population.
Even the most basic tasks, such as printing a customer’s bank statement, cannot be done in a central office. This is minimalist banking. It is unacceptable and Siddiq is right to want banks to improve their standards.
So far, banks have been reluctant to support data centers, investing minimally in a concept they believe (and hope) will only be temporary as banking becomes mobile-dominated and the need for cash disappears.
However, it seems that a little political muscle will force them to accept that data centers (and smarter ones, at that) are here to stay. They are the small price to pay for eliminating their individual branch networks.
Let’s hope the banks do the sensible thing and vote for a future that allows data centres to flourish where their own branches once stood proudly. We deserve nothing less.
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