Banking: Metro - we're a bank not a newspaper
The first new, independent, bank to open in the UK for more than a century has a bright new look - and a wierd disclaimer.
There's something strange about Metro Bank in London's Holborn. It's full of people. More precisely, there are staff visible on the floor of the banking hall (and, yes, it does look like a proper banking hall) and there are - wait for this - customers.
After more than two decades during which the terms "customer" and "service" are juxtaposed only by companies which intend to provide no service to customers (in the sense that self-service is no service) Metro Bank has turned the entire concept of relating to customers on its head.
Sure, there are ATMs just inside the door. With large notices explaining what they are and who can use them. As people walk into the branch (presently the only one for the new bank), they are greeted by young, smiling people in smart uniforms and directed to the correct place. Other banks have tried the greeter system but with varying degrees of success : one particularly horrible example was the greeter who knew the brand names of various products but didn't know which of them were deposit accounts and, indeed, denied that the bank offered deposit accounts.
Customers coming out of Metro Bank yesterday had no such complaints. "Very helpful and quick," said a customer who did not wish to be named. Quick indeed: justtwenty minutes after walking into the branch, he had left with a new account - and a debit card with his name and account number.
Metro is a retail bank for individuals and small businesses. It offers current, savings and mortgage accounts.
But there is that disclaimer: the bank makes it plain that it is independent of all other banks - and also independent of the Metro newspaper (www.metro.co.uk) which uses a very similar colour scheme for its masthead although the graphics are different.
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