Face-to-face banking access to be reviewed

subjecttocontract

What we have in the UK which they do not have in Europe (or the US) is free banking. I haven't paid bank charges for any aspect of UK banking for as long as I can remember. That's in stark contrast to my banking in Spain. We should be grateful for what we have.

confederated

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82027143#Comment_82027143

I agree, but feel that some of the money banks save from closing branches, or not having any branches at all, should be used to provide other means of customer service - telephone services, online chat etc.. There are occasions when things go wrong - an unexpected transaction in the account, or an inadvertent subscription to a service using CCA and to be able to speak to someone at the bank is essential. I am very concerned that banks are allowed to trade providing support only during normal business hours and not at all at the weekend. Regulation should ensure an acceptable level of customer-facing support. LHV, for example, has no telephone support and an email has to be sent to initiate any sort of customer service, should they choose to reply. Triodos has telephone support only during working hours in the week and only email support for suspected fraud at the weekend.

subjecttocontract

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82054200#Comment_82054200

If you were a bank shareholder you might hold a different view. Investors expect their bank to maximise profits & provide a good return, not provide features because their customers think they would be nice to have.

confederated

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82054215#Comment_82054215

That's why I used the word 'regulation'. We have regulation and we are all the better for it. The Bank of England has some stringent conditions before it will allow an organistation to become a bank. It could easily include a condition which requires the new bank to provide a certain level of customer service - whatever the shareholders think.

GeoffTF

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82054252#Comment_82054252

There is bank regulation in the US:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_regulation_in_the_United_States

confederated

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82054762#Comment_82054762

All I was saying was that it would be easy to regulate for a certain level of customer support in a bank. Do you think banks should be free not to offer timely customer support? What are you getting at exactly?

GeoffTF

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82054845#Comment_82054845

You wrote: "Where did I say there is no banking regulation in the US?".

I was responding to: "In the UK we have regulation that isn't the case in the US and we are all the better for it."

On reflection, that sentence could be taken to mean that we have some banking regulations that the US does not. That is certainly true, as is its converse. As the article that I linked points out banking regulations vary across the US. The topic of this thread is face to face banking. Bank branch access varies across the US, but is generally excellent:

https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/feds/files/2025086pap.pdf

confederated

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82055170#Comment_82055170

Yes, I was responding to the notion that "shareholders want the maximum return on their investment and may not be willing to provide features just because their customers think they would be nice to have". I suggested regulation as the vehicle to force certain customer service expectations of banks. I'm still not sure why you're arguing with me. What do you actually disagree with?

GeoffTF

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82055248#Comment_82055248

We are going off at a tangent here. The US arguably has a "more capitalistic economy" than the UK, but that does not mean that it has fewer or laxer banking regulations (indeed the opposite may be true). Bank branch access is clearly better in the US than it is in the UK. I do not believe that we can draw the conclusion that a "more capitalistic economy" results in better or in worse bank access. I expect that there is both more need for local banking access in the US and more demand for it.

confederated

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82055531#Comment_82055531

OK, please ignore what I said about the US. US regulation is not the point I'm debating and I acknowledge your superior understanding of regulation on the other side of the pond. I have amended my post accordingly. I suggested that the regulators could mandate a certain level of customer service for a bank to receive a banking license. Do you disagree with me on that point?