Loading ...Metro Bank will – hopefully – be a name to reckon with before too long. Its first branch opens in London’s Southampton Row on 29th July, with Earl’s Court a week later. 12 more London branches and a total UK estate of 200 are planned.
It may mean that a long and stale period of rationalisation and mergers in the UK banking industry is coming to an end. Certainly Virgin are tipped to begin their retail banking venture shortly; and with Lloyds Banking Group forced by the EU to sell 600 UK branches to a new entrant before the end of 2013, true competition could be just around the corner.
All entrants are keen to include the business sector in their offering and – with the advantage of effectively starting afresh with systems and product offerings – the increased choice has to be welcome from both a service and cost-saving perspective.
Certainly in Expense Reduction Analysts’ Banking Team we will be watching the new kids on the block closely as we seek to present attractive options to our clients. We will anticipate that superior service allied to keen pricing will be a bedrock of any growth that new entrants need to secure themselves in the market, and that can only be beneficial.
Interviews with three delighted clients, talking about the value they have received from our service. David Boothman (MD of
A client in Surrey asked us to review annual banking charges of £103k that included cash processing costs of