Metro Bank

[BondSquared]

Metro Bank saw a niche in the market to build the first new brick-and-mortar bank in over a hundred years, exactly at a time when everyone started getting smartphones and banking apps and digitalisation hit the retail sector.

Unfortunately, noone else saw that niche.

[Tedx]

DILLIGAF.....

Ah, kevin bloody wilson. Class.

[GoSeigen]

Yes, but they were bust, and Metro currently aren't.

V8

I'm puzzled why not.
[...]
Now why couldn't Metro do that? Why have they not already gone bust with such a hostile and unhelpful attitude to potential new customers?

Maybe because conditions for banking and bank investing are now so good that any old fool can make money?



GS

[Dod101]

Metro Bank saw a niche in the market to build the first new brick-and-mortar bank in over a hundred years, exactly at a time when everyone started getting smartphones and banking apps and digitalisation hit the retail sector.

Unfortunately, noone else saw that niche.

Or it might be more accurate to say 'Fortunately no one else saw that niche'.

Dod

[BondSquared]

Metro Bank saw a niche in the market to build the first new brick-and-mortar bank in over a hundred years, exactly at a time when everyone started getting smartphones and banking apps and digitalisation hit the retail sector.

Unfortunately, noone else saw that niche. IRONY ALERT

Or it might be more accurate to say 'Fortunately no one else saw that niche'.

Dod

[formoverfunction]

Metro Bank saw a niche in the market to build the first new brick-and-mortar bank in over a hundred years, exactly at a time when everyone started getting smartphones and banking apps and digitalisation hit the retail sector.

Unfortunately, noone else saw that niche.

I live in a small town which used to have 3 banks, we now only one closed bank, which operates a cash machine, but no customer service.

Cash is available in the supermarket, we don't have a post office, and a typically large number of older people. The lady down the lane from me doesn't drive, can't walk as far as the supermarket, there's a corner store where she does her shopping. But she can reach the cashpoint. She doesn't like using the second one in town which requires walking 3 flights of stairs.

So the big problem for us is during summer holidays, if we get an unexpected number of visitors, we run dry of cash outside of normal shopping hours. Not a problem for most of us, it's cards and mobile payments, but for some older people it can be a big problem.

Meanwhile all are our bank buildings remain empty....so there might be a niche, if you could offer enough services to make it economic. I guess if you were creative enough.

[Dod101]

Metro Bank saw a niche in the market to build the first new brick-and-mortar bank in over a hundred years, exactly at a time when everyone started getting smartphones and banking apps and digitalisation hit the retail sector.

Unfortunately, noone else saw that niche.

I live in a small town which used to have 3 banks, we now only one closed bank, which operates a cash machine, but no customer service.

Cash is available in the supermarket, we don't have a post office, and a typically large number of older people. The lady down the lane from me doesn't drive, can't walk as far as the supermarket, there's a corner store where she does her shopping. But she can reach the cashpoint. She doesn't like using the second one in town which requires walking 3 flights of stairs.

So the big problem for us is during summer holidays, if we get an unexpected number of visitors, we run dry of cash outside of normal shopping hours. Not a problem for most of us, it's cards and mobile payments, but for some older people it can be a big problem.

Meanwhile all are our bank buildings remain empty....so there might be a niche, if you could offer enough services to make it economic. I guess if you were creative enough.

We are apparently getting a banking hub; that might help you.

Dod

[Lootman]

Metro Bank saw a niche in the market to build the first new brick-and-mortar bank in over a hundred years, exactly at a time when everyone started getting smartphones and banking apps and digitalisation hit the retail sector.

Unfortunately, noone else saw that niche.

I live in a small town which used to have 3 banks, we now only one closed bank, which operates a cash machine, but no customer service.

Central London is not so different. The other day I was by St. Paul's and needed to visit my bank branch. The closest one was at Chancery Lane, almost a mile away by foot over the Holborn Viaduct. Even the City is short of retail bank branches.

You think the NatWest at Oxford Circus, the busiest shopping location in central London, has staffed counters on a Saturday morning? Think again, it doesn't. There are some staff there, but they exist only to help the constant stream of people who don't know how to do anything with a cash machine other than withdraw cash.

And most central London bank branches do not open at all on Saturdays.

[BondSquared]

I don't get the point of bank branches in 2023. Either the issue at hand is generic and more efficiently dealt with by a machine or app than a person at a counter, or it's a more complicated matter which branch staff can never help you with and refer you to a phone/video call with a specialist. Do you really need a brick-and-mortar building in the most expensive location in town for that?

[Lootman]

I don't get the point of bank branches in 2023. Either the issue at hand is generic and more efficiently dealt with by a machine or app than a person at a counter, or it's a more complicated matter which branch staff can never help you with and refer you to a phone/video call with a specialist. Do you really need a brick-and-mortar building in the most expensive location in town for that?

It matters if enough people think that it matters. I do most of my banking in person at branches and they are frequently crowded with people trying to get their business done.

In my case when I withdraw cash I usually want specific denominations of banknotes. I do not want what the machine gives me by default.

If I am paying in a large cheque I much prefer to have a human being do that for me than trust a machine to not swallow it without trace.

And so on. It is a service and I expect to be served.

[scrumpyjack]

It is many years since I went into a bank. I do everything online and very occasionally talk to my bank on the phone. It must be an extremely small proportion of customers who want the service Lootman wants. Somehow I doubt there are enough of them to make it viable for the bank and they probably are reluctant to pay the fees necessary to pay for branch banking.

I suspect Metro's business vision is a mirage that is not sustainable.

[BondSquared]

I don't get the point of bank branches in 2023. Either the issue at hand is generic and more efficiently dealt with by a machine or app than a person at a counter, or it's a more complicated matter which branch staff can never help you with and refer you to a phone/video call with a specialist. Do you really need a brick-and-mortar building in the most expensive location in town for that?

It matters if enough people think that it matters. I do most of my banking in person at branches and they are frequently crowded with people trying to get their business done.

In my case when I withdraw cash I usually want specific denominations of banknotes. I do not want what the machine gives me by default.

If I am paying in a large cheque I much prefer to have a human being do that for me than trust a machine to not swallow it without trace.

And so on. It is a service and I expect to be served.

Understood. How much extra are you willing to pay for the brick-and-mortar service? I assume you don't want to freeride on the cost savings generated by those bank customers who prefer online and telephone banking, so just wondering what premium you're willing to pay. There are plenty of private wealth management focussed banks serving the market for customers requiring a personal service.

[Dod101]

I imagine that bank branches are used mostly by those who are not computer literate and I feel sorry for them but as I said, bank hubs may be the answer for them. Currently we have no bank branches in my nearest small town (or any other one within say 20 miles or so) but we do have a mobile branch which comes along from time to time.

I am afraid that most would see Lootman's requirements as somewhat eccentric and I cannot see the average bank being very concerned about not being able to service him.

Dod

[GeoffF100]

Now why couldn't Metro do that? Why have they not already gone bust with such a hostile and unhelpful attitude to potential new customers?

Metro is top of the table for branch service:

https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/personal-ba ... ugust-2023

The general experience of the others seems to be worse.

[GeoffF100]

I know a 75 year old who has never used a cash machine because he believes that it will be too challenging. There is demand for branch services. I expect that there are also those who feel that there is prestige to be gained in using the bank with the big shiny branch and seven day service in the city centre. Metro does not offer switching bonuses, cashback, interest or any of that nonsense on its current accounts, so it does cost more than the big banks, but perhaps not enough. I like to see competition. I hope Metro does find a way to long term success.

[genou]

I know a 75 year old who has never used a cash machine because he believes that it will be too challenging.

Que? Where has he been living? Cash machines have been around ( although not prevalent early on ) for over 50 years. He's spent the bulk of his adult life walking past them if he's lived in the UK.

[Alaric]

Cash machines have been around ( although not prevalent early on ) for over 50 years..

Before that you had to "have an arrangement". If your home bank was near your home, you would be able to go into a branch of the same bank near your workplace and write a cheque for cash. Periodically the cashier would rummage through a filing cabinet and checj for the existence of an authorisation. Cash machines were easier for all when introduced.

[GeoffF100]

The first Cashpoint machine was installed by Lloyds Bank at the Brentwood branch in 1972:

https://www.lloydsbankinggroup.com/who- ... -bank.html

I used one at the South Kensington branch a few years after that. As far as I know, it only dispensed money from accounts at that branch.

[GeoffF100]

He's spent the bulk of his adult life walking past them if he's lived in the UK.

Yes, but he has always considered them to be far too challenging for him to tackle.

[swill453]

I used one at the South Kensington branch a few years after that. As far as I know, it only dispensed money from accounts at that branch.

My first memory of cash machines was at uni in 1979. They dispensed pound notes, my typical withdrawal was about £3 a time.

Scott.