Outside In Banking

Ever since the introduction of the ATM, pundits have been forecasting the death of the branch. The mainstreaming of the Internet, many saw the branch-free tomorrow as inevitable.  Here’s a typical example from the Los Angeles Business Journal:

“High-tech gurus of the banking world are spending a lot of time these days dreaming up the bank of the future. And it is not a cleaner, brighter, more-modern version of the bank branch customers go to now. If things go as some techies predict, the bank branch of the future will likely be customers’ own living rooms.”

At the same time, though, banks were investing heavily in branch expansion. One high-level bank executive told me that branches made other marketing superfluous.  He actually said the words, “If you build it, they will come.”

The recession has slowed this expansion down somewhat, but many banks continue to open new branches.

This morning I stumbled across this video:

You’ll notice that there’s a lot of next-generation mobile-device action going on, but somehow it all ends up at the teller window.  Then I saw that it was an Umpqua video and it all made sense.

Banks like Umpqua and Goldwater not only believe in the branch, they’re they’re out to elevate it to a new level.  Take a look at Umpqua’s current flagship branch in this video.

Very nice, especially the ice cream truck.  But now the mobile revolution is upon us.  A few years from now mobile devices may render branches and cash irrelevant.

I know there are bank customers who still prefer to talk to a “real person”, but it seems they belong to shrinking minority.  I seldom run across people who swear by the branch anymore.  I haven’t been to a branch for my own banking needs in years.

How about you?  Do you think the future of banking has a place for the branch?