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Rilla Delorier, SunTrust's marketing chief, says banks need to work together to promote financial health and change behavior. "We have to do this to save our industry," she says.
March 26 -
This "product" is weakened in the customers' mind when interacting with a living, breathing banker inevitably involves fending off sales pitches.
April 1 -
Branches are outdated, expensive and unwieldy. For years, bankers have postponed dealing with the dead weight. Now it looks like theyre starting to make the necessary hard decisions. Finally.
December 17 -
A positive spin around branches will proliferate, as will talk about wearable tech. Oh, and expect tons of M&A -- between banks and nonbanks.
March 17
If bankers want their branches to be successful, they'll have to start thinking beyond efficiency. They also need to start designing around productivity, says Paul Seibert, vice president of financial design for EHS Design.
Speaking during the inaugural
"It seems today all the work is driven by efficiency," Seibert said. "How can we drive down the cost of branching? How can we drive down the amount of staff we have? How can we use personal teller machines, PTMs, to reduce the amount of costs?"
These questions are important to consider, but they won't necessarily result in a boost in sales.
"We need to think of a new formula," Seibert explained. "We need to look at productivity where we come up with a new branch concept a new business model that really creates a high-increase in growth."
In order to enhance efficiency and productivity, Seibert suggested banks develop branch prototypes around, among other things, clarity and simplicity of brand translation, flexibility, balance between brand and local values, a strong differentiation in image and experience and convergence with all delivery channels.
He cited Umpqua Bank, Vancity Credit Union of Canada and BlueShore Financial as firms that have incorporated some of these attributes into their branch networks.
"The first time I walked into an Umpqua branch, I asked the greeter to tell me about the branch design," Seibert said. "What I found by the expression of this greeter was they were living the brand they were expressing the brand and isn't that the point of all this to provide a space where our staff can be successful?"
Jeanine Skowronski is the deputy editor of BankThink. You can contact her at