Virgin to merge with Clydesdale & yorkshire

Anthorn

eskbanker wrote: »

The answer is in post #10 above, which in turn referenced the article linked at post #2!

So therefore my local Yorkshire Bank branch will become Virgin Money? A bit of overkill I'd say because there is a Virgin Money Lounge virtually just across the street! A question arises which will be closed?

LesU

I'm interested in the idea there will be branch closures. To compete with the heavyweights, this new bank will need a lot more new branches.
I am a customer of both Yorkshire Bank and Virgin Money. My nearest Virgin Money store is 12 miles away and is cashless, the next one is over 20 miles away. Yorkshire Bank has its nearest branch 90 miles away.
No, I'm not living in a wilderness, I'm 2 miles from the M25 in Essex.

What I'm more worried about is the possible merger of computer systems. Is this going to end up as TSB 2?

woolythoughts

So long as the virgin credit card continues to give airmiles now that MBNA no longer have the relationship, I don't care.

eskbanker

LesU wrote: »

I'm interested in the idea there will be branch closures. To compete with the heavyweights, this new bank will need a lot more new branches.
I am a customer of both Yorkshire Bank and Virgin Money. My nearest Virgin Money store is 12 miles away and is cashless, the next one is over 20 miles away. Yorkshire Bank has its nearest branch 90 miles away.

I'm not convinced that size of branch network should be seen as a measure of bank scale anymore, and indeed it would appear that you agree that branches aren't a prerequisite, if you're a YB customer 90 miles from its nearest branch!

While there are one or two posters on here who'll argue until they're blue in the face that branches are indispensable and represent the future, the overwhelming evidence of what most banks are doing clearly contradicts this.

My expectation would be that any branch closure programme would take into account estate overlap, so in your case there wouldn't appear to be any, but for the previous poster, with a YB and a VM across the street from each other, that would be seen differently.

EachPenny

eskbanker wrote: »

While there are one or two posters on here who'll argue until they're blue in the face that branches are indispensable and represent the future, the overwhelming evidence of what most banks are doing clearly contradicts this.

Although I wouldn't go as far as making myself blue in the face over it, there are still banks and building societies working hard to make branches indispensable, whilst at the same time closing them down or significantly reducing opening hours.

For example, Barclays - a vanguard in branch closures - requiring existing customers to go to a branch in person in order to initiate a switch and take advantage of the Blue Rewards promotion.

Things might change as the digital banking revolution progresses, but then so too does regulation and the potential for fraud. And it seems the stock response to these risks (either to prevent or to recover from) is for the banks to demand customers attend the bank in person with suitable documents in order to prove who they are.

EachPenny

Anthorn wrote: »

So therefore my local Yorkshire Bank branch will become Virgin Money? A bit of overkill I'd say because there is a Virgin Money Lounge virtually just across the street! A question arises which will be closed?

At a guess the one with the higher on-going costs and/or the lowest costs to terminate any lease early.

supasaverbob

I wonder if this will lead to Virgin Money banknotes in Scotland...?

eskbanker

EachPenny wrote: »

Although I wouldn't go as far as making myself blue in the face over it, there are still banks and building societies working hard to make branches indispensable, whilst at the same time closing them down or significantly reducing opening hours.

For example, Barclays - a vanguard in branch closures - requiring existing customers to go to a branch in person in order to initiate a switch and take advantage of the Blue Rewards promotion.

Things might change as the digital banking revolution progresses, but then so too does regulation and the potential for fraud. And it seems the stock response to these risks (either to prevent or to recover from) is for the banks to demand customers attend the bank in person with suitable documents in order to prove who they are.

Yes, that's a fair point about banks insisting on branch attendance for various reasons - just to be clear, my comment was more about those who choose to do so for routine day-to-day stuff, one of whom was in complete denial about the trend for branch number reduction and believed that usage was increasing!

RG2015

supasaverbob wrote: »

I wonder if this will lead to Virgin Money banknotes in Scotland...?

OMG!

Branson on a banknote. :eek:

EssexExile

RG2015 wrote: »

OMG!

Branson on a banknote. :eek:

Other virgins are available.