For those that still don't believe in Internet Banking
Thursday, April 15, 1999 Published at 06:34 GMT 07:34 UK
Business: The Economy
One in three UK banks 'to close'
In a HIgh Street near you, but not for much longer
Internet and telephone banking will force the closure of a third of all UK bank branches, according to a survey by Deloitte Consulting.
The new methods of selling financial products are overtaking the traditional full-service bank branches, where customers get their cheque book, pay in cash and ask for savings advice.
The consultants expect that 3,600 of the 11,000 High Street bank branches will disappear, with the loss of thousands of jobs.
The importance of Internet banking will soon draw level with cash points
Based on a survey of 200 bank executives, Deloitte Consulting says that "full-service branches are still the single most important channel" for banking today, but predicts that "in just five years time call centres will be level-pegging with the high street bank branch networks".
The runner-up is Internet banking, soon to be on par with hole-in-the-wall cash machines.
During recent years some UK banks have begun offering their customers to bank using the phone and Internet.
Others have set up subsidiaries with separate brand names that do without any branches and rely solely on secure servers and call centres.
Competition is now coming from outside the banking sector as well. Insurance companies, for example, have begun to recognise the cheap start-up costs of offering banking services exclusively on the phone and Net.
Banks will have to make an extra effort to compete with the new entrants to the financial services market, said John Harrison, a partner and retail banking specialist with Deloitte.
He said banks would need to develop effective systems and train staff to match customer expectations.
According to Deloitte, UK banks have begun to make the necessary investments to develop new marketing channels, although some of them have been held back by the need to make their computer systems millennium compliant first.
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