Banking Hubs.

[Deleted User]

Hello.
I've just seen in the local rag that a banking hub is earmarked near by, what are your opinions  on them?
Good idea or just a gimmick before cash disappears in the near future.

Hoenir

Be a usefull service to many. 

[Deleted User]

Hoenir said:

Be a useful service to many. 

I agree, me included. 

Zanderman

[Deleted User] said:

Hello.
I've just seen in the local rag that a banking hub is earmarked near by, what are your opinions  on them?
Good idea or just a gimmick before cash disappears in the near future.

Good idea definitely. And useful.

But cash isn't going to disappear in the near future. Indeed cash usage increased in the last few years. Millions (but some on this forum seem unable to comprehend this) still rely on cash to a greater or lesser extent.   

Nasqueron

Zanderman said:

[Deleted User] said:

Hello.
I've just seen in the local rag that a banking hub is earmarked near by, what are your opinions  on them?
Good idea or just a gimmick before cash disappears in the near future.

Good idea definitely. And useful.

But cash isn't going to disappear in the near future. Indeed cash usage increased in the last few years. Millions (but some on this forum seem unable to comprehend this) still rely on cash to a greater or lesser extent.   

Cash use is linked to cost of living, even so, the increase from 8% of transactions in 2021 to 11% in December 2023 is still fairly limited overall. People are welcome to use cash, it won't go away any time soon but  at the same time, it's not really of use these days to the majority 

eskbanker

[Deleted User] said:

I've just seen in the local rag that a banking hub is earmarked near by, what are your opinions  on them?
Good idea or just a gimmick before cash disappears in the near future.

I'm not sure that it's valid to link branch closures (replaced by hubs sometimes) with access to cash?  It's been made clear that ongoing access to cash needs to be preserved, whereas there's no such policy direction that bank branches need to be retained, as long as cash deposit and withdrawal facilities are available, which can obviously be via a variety of other channels (hubs, post offices, ATMs, etc):

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cash-access-policy-statement/cash-access-policy-statement

penners324

I think they're just a gimmick. 99% of things that can happen in a branch can happen elsewhere (like a post office). So what's the use case?

Access to cash is a totally separate issue.

Hoenir

penners324 said:

I think they're just a gimmick. 99% of things that can happen in a branch can happen elsewhere (like a post office). So what's the use case?

I'd say far less than 99%. 

[Deleted User]

Zanderman said:

[Deleted User] said:

Hello.
I've just seen in the local rag that a banking hub is earmarked near by, what are your opinions  on them?
Good idea or just a gimmick before cash disappears in the near future.

Good idea definitely. And useful.

But cash isn't going to disappear in the near future. Indeed cash usage increased in the last few years. Millions (but some on this forum seem unable to comprehend this) still rely on cash to a greater or lesser extent.   

I like to use cash if possible too. 
But lm not too sure about its future.
I hope it hangs around for awhile yet.
Thank you for your reply.

MattMattMattUK

I think that they are a good idea if done properly. It is not financially viable for banks to keep individual branches open in many cases, but a partial share of that cost could extend the life of large scale in-person banking for another decade or so. I say it needs to be done properly as the site needs to be provisioned for multiple private areas, each bank will need it's own safe etc. but there was an article (I think in the FT) that showed that they could cut costs by 75% or more in most locations based on a 5-6 bank hub (there are still staff costs). 

With regard to cash, for most people it will continue to be an irrelevance, more than a third are already cashless, more than two thirds are almost cashless (only a few cash transactions per month). Businesses do not want to have to accept it so they will continue steering customers in that direction, many customers do not want to use cash if they can help it. There is a small and vocal minority that want to continue using cash and whilst they will decline over time they will probably ensure that cash is accepted in major retail locations for some while yet, although pubs, bars, restaurants, smaller shops etc. will be find it easier to set their own policies and will likely continue phasing out cash usage. 

[Deleted User]

MattMattMattUK said:

I think that they are a good idea if done properly. It is not financially viable for banks to keep individual branches open in many cases, but a partial share of that cost could extend the life of large scale in-person banking for another decade or so. I say it needs to be done properly as the site needs to be provisioned for multiple private areas, each bank will need it's own safe etc. but there was an article (I think in the FT) that showed that they could cut costs by 75% or more in most locations based on a 5-6 bank hub (there are still staff costs). 

With regard to cash, for most people it will continue to be an irrelevance, more than a third are already cashless, more than two thirds are almost cashless (only a few cash transactions per month). Businesses do not want to have to accept it so they will continue steering customers in that direction, many customers do not want to use cash if they can help it. There is a small and vocal minority that want to continue using cash and whilst they will decline over time they will probably ensure that cash is accepted in major retail locations for some while yet, although pubs, bars, restaurants, smaller shops etc. will be find it easier to set their own policies and will likely continue phasing out cash usage. 

Thanks for your  reply.