The design of the modern bank branch is worlds apart from its more traditional predecessor in terms of layout, operational effectiveness, equipment and decor, says Michael Imeson.

Bank branches are here to stay, even though in the past decade banks have been closing them to save costs and to make way for new delivery channels. In many countries, branch numbers are increasing. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s Point of Presence survey last year, for example, reported a 1% rise in the number of branches compared with three years earlier.

Whichever country they are in, branches are still expensive to run. So the focus nowadays is to redesign them to improve their effectiveness. The branch of today has quite a different façade, internal layout, interior design, range of self-service terminals and technology infrastructure from the branch of yesterday. It not only looks more appealing, but it also provides better customer service, increases revenue and reduces costs.

Wincor Nixdorf, based in Paderborn, Germany, which is the leading European provider of IT solutions to retail banks, says its research confirms that in many countries branches will remain the central point of contact between financial institutions and their customers, as long as they are designed properly. Face-to-face contact is by far the best sales method, it says.

“The interaction between sales activities, technology and the ambience has to be just right,” says Stuart Miller, account manager at Wincor Nixdorf UK. “We regard branch design as a key success factor that requires careful planning. Our offering is called The New Bank and comprises consulting and architectural services to give branches a new image – a combination of high tech and the human touch.”

The company provides an interactive system for processing front-office business transactions. It operates equipment, such as passbook and document printers, card readers, authorisation terminals and payment terminals.

Keeping customers happy

Wincor Nixdorf was involved in the design of a new head office branch for the Gifhorn-Wolfsburg Savings Bank in Wolfsburg, Germany, along with interior designer Andreas Kranz. Customer acceptance of the open, single zone layout has been high, says Klaus Ludiger, a bank board member.

Customers entering through the main entrance on the ground floor find a lobby where the self-service systems are arranged in a semi-circle: three cash dispensers, a coin roll dispenser and night safe. Opposite are three bank statement printers and two self-service terminals, one of which is designed to be operated by customers sitting down.

Outside branch opening hours, the 24-hour self-service area is partitioned off from the consulting area by a moveable glass wall. The new branch has proved popular with Wolfsburgers. “We’ve seen a 50% increase in the usage of ATMs, and that’s without increasing the number of machines,” says Mr Ludiger. Overall visitor frequency has increased by 30%.

Lighting up time

As for the interior design, light plays a special role. A coloured light vault adapts to the colour spectrum of the time of day to emulate sunrise, bright sunshine at midday and red evening sky. “We attached great importance to openness and transparency in planning the interior,” says Mr Kranz. “A good interior design takes account of human habits and natural modes of behaviour. This is essential if it is to provide the right setting for enhancing a product or service.”

NCR Financial Solutions calls its modern branch concept The Integrated Self-Service Branch. “The bold prediction of recent years that the branch is dead has not been realised,” says Charlie Rohan, head of design at the company. The traditional bank branch, with a row of tellers and restricted opening hours, may be on its way out, he says, “but the role of the branch as a tangible embodiment of the bank, its brand, its values and as a sales outlet is as important today as it ever was”.

Designers at work

Dalziel & Pow, a retail design consultancy in London, is working with NCR designing branches for a Moscow bank that will open later this year. Last year, the two companies completed a project designing a 47-branch network for Poland’s MultiBank. “There’s a lot of potential in bank branch design because they are a long way behind retail trends,” says creative director David Dalziel.

“We do a lot of work for Nokia and we can easily transfer some of the aggressive, new concepts used in their outlets to banking. Banks typically spend a lot of time trying to keep people out of their branches, by encouraging internet and ATM use. Our designs are aimed at bringing them in,” he says.

Banks in western Europe do not usually have an open aspect – a ‘shop window’ – because they are often in old, solid properties with a great deal of physical security. “But in Russia or Poland, where private sector banks are a new concept, they don’t have those issues and they’re looking for new opportunities,” says Mr Dalziel.

The integrated self-service branch that NCR and Dalziel & Pow design combines traditional cashiers (not necessarily behind a screen), sales and advice consultants in open customer areas, and self-service terminals. In banking hours, all parts of the branch are open, with staff in the open areas directing people out of queues to ATMs or sales advisers. Later, the main part of the branch is cordoned off with a glass partition, leaving the self-service terminals accessible from the street 24 hours a day.

Integration in mind

Cisco Systems, the networking technology provider, has developed a Branch of the Future concept, which places great emphasis on integrating the branch with the bank’s other delivery channels, especially the internet. “Customers will no longer tolerate a branch that can not access the same account information that’s available over the internet,” says Jordi Ferrer, business development manager, financial services, Europe, Middle East and Africa at Cisco.

Cisco’s Branch of the Future consists of six solutions: internet telephony delivered over wide area networks, customer care (linking branches with call centres), internet ATMs and kiosks, content delivery network (such as providing e-learning programmes for branch staff), internet video surveillance, and wireless computer and phone networks within branches.

American Savings Bank, Hawaii’s third largest financial institution, has implemented these Cisco network solutions to support data, voice and video communications across its branch network. This has enabled it to reduce costs, improve productivity and enhance customer service. The main installation was completed last year and is saving the bank $70,000 a year in long distance inter-office telephone calls.

“We’re now evaluating a wireless telephony solution because the bank is morphing itself into a full-service community bank, with greeters at certain locations,” says Craig Lee, the bank’s chief information officer. “With wireless network connectivity, the greeter will be able to walk through the branch with customers, and have the phone available to them at all times without being tied to a desk.”

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