• 18 Nov, 2019 06:00 am

Financial IT’s archive includes two very different stories about branch banking in the last two months or so.

The role that is played by bank branches in a bank’s overall business model depends on a complex variety of issues. What are the technologies that are being used? Where are the banks located? What do the bank’s employees who work at the branches actually do? Where does physical cash come into the picture? Is the bank looking to promote and distribute products that originate from other, third party, providers? How does the bank calculate the true value of its branch network?

Accurately answering these – and other relevant – questions for a particular bank will tell you a lot about the philosophy and strategy of that bank. Answering the questions for the leading banks in a particular national market will tell you a lot about retail financial services in that country. Crucially, it will provide insights about what the financial services landscape will look like in two-to-five years time.