THERE have been many dark days in banking in the last ten years, but this is surely one of the darkest. Not only have the Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks announced the closure of 79 branches with the loss of some 400 jobs, the Airdrie Savings Bank, which was once seen as a possible model for safe, sensible banking, announced that it is to close down, just short of its 182nd anniversary.
Part of the explanation for both situations is the change in the way bank customers behave. The huge growth of online services has led to a reduction in the number of people going into branches. HSBC says the number of visits to its branches has fallen by 40 per cent in the past five years and the Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks and the Airdrie Savings Bank have been subject to the same inexorable trends.
Speaking about the closures, Airdrie’s chief executive Rod Ashley confirmed declining footfall had been a factor in the decision, but there are undoubtedly other factors at play. The state of the Scottish economy will not have helped for example, with the latest figures showing unemployment rising and growth hovering just above zero.
There also has to be a question mark over whether Airdrie moved too far from its original model. For 175 years, it was based only in its North Lanarkshire heartland and until the 1980s remained a simple savings bank, with customers permitted to take out only what they put in. It then diversified into loans and mortgages and six years ago opened more branches. The union Unite has also suggested Airdrie had been landed with extra costs due to increased regulation.
No one would suggest the Airdrie Savings Bank should be immune from regulation – the changes were introduced for a good reason following the financial crash of 2008 and the burden of regulation has to be balanced against consumer protection. But it is to be regretted that a bank with no shareholders and which could reinvest profit into the business could not be made to work in the modern sector. We should also resist the temptation to conclude that the closure of Airdrie is the death of the mutual bank as a viable model. It can still point to a way to do banking that is more personal and focused much more on customer service rather than profit.
The bad news at Airdrie and Clydesdale should also not be seen as a sign that the decline of branches and community-based banking is inevitable. It is true that Clydesdale is closing its branches partly because many of their customers prefer the convenience of online banking. But not everyone is online and in the UK there are still around 20 million adults who do not use their bank’s online service. The closure of branches, particularly in towns, will also have a severe effect on many small businesses.
The banks will say they have to change – and change in the sector is inevitable – but some things must stay the same and banks still have a responsibility to all their customers. It is probably inevitable some branches have to close. But, in closing or moving out entirely, the banks must look at ways they can maintain a presence in communities through services such as mobile banking. Banking is changing, but banks must serve all their customers.
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