During a visit to my recently refurbished local bank branch, I discovered a chic, contemporary and stylish interior with a sense of urban design which is shaping the physical setting for life in cities.
Welcome to my local bank at Studio B, the new brand and physical manifestation of the flagship information, advisory and engagement hub of CYBG PLC which has rebranded to Virgin Money.
The branch format demonstrates the bank's digital ambitions and the decision to lead the way on innovation and shape the future of the banking industry.
This is a brand experience and branch design where customers will find innovations in how to use financial products, save and manage money and engage with the financial institution for many other services. The interactive branch on Kensington High Street has been designed as CYBG's main high street office in London and inspires the kind of creative thinking that could shape the future of branding and banking.
Studio B is a place for today's banking, where customers can do all things they need with their money. There's a friendly team waiting to help get the job done in the simplest and most up-to-date way. Whether you're there to talk about your money or you're just curious about new banking products, you'll find a warm welcome at the branch.
We at Campbell Rigg believe this approach to branding and branch format experience influences customer satisfaction more than the convenience of “on-the-go” online or mobile channels.
It is well-known that high customer satisfaction yields more loyalty, product ownership and share of wallet. Our views validate that highly satisfied customers are more likely to recommend their bank to others and are less likely to switch their primary bank than dissatisfied customers.
The new branch concept is open to customers and non-customers provides facilities for entrepreneurs to co-work and create in the social media studio. The branches are a platform for social engagement, host destinations for a diverse range of networking events, seminars, panel discussions, even morning yoga and evening gigs - all tailored to the needs of the local market.
Virgin Money now has a platform to engage customers on many different levels, to reach out into their communities and shift the dialogue of banking from money to wellbeing for the mind, body, soul and financial stability.
The importance of branding, design and format planning. Where will bank trends evolve in 2021? The direct bank branch format will undergo a significant design and format transformation.
Technology is enabling every aspect of banking to go online and as traditional branches are no longer economic, the retail branch will need to become dramatically more productive, or significantly less costly. As a consequence, banks have started experimenting with new branch design concepts.
We expect these trends to accelerate, as customer expectations and behaviours evolve. The brick and mortar branch will remain, but take many new forms, from flagship information, advisory and engagement hubs (offering education, financial advice, full-service capabilities and community offerings) to smart kiosks (offering service, sales, cash and video contact with a range of specialists).
Leading banks will rapidly improve their format and technology footprints, reducing branch size and costs, introducing new innovations and migrating transactions to low-touch digital channels.
We foresee human engagement as a necessary means for brand success, including digital channels. Late adopter banks who don't embrace this trend will start to struggle, due to structurally uncompetitive economics. As financial institutions evaluate their current branch networks, they need to create new branch formats that offer customers enhanced banking journeys that are more closely aligned with their needs - whether that's more expert advice or a desire for convenience and speed of service.
Our internal process of renewal, allows us to continually benchmark and write about the best in class bank retail trends in many market sectors across the globe. The images contained in this article have taken from the web and are credited to others and not related CampbellRigg. Please take a moment to review other news items linked to this page.
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