The first completely new high street bank in the UK since the 19th Century, Metro Bank, is to open its first branch in 6 weeks time.
Metro aim to put an emphasis on customer care and will open 7 days a week, including 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday. The bank also boasts a rapid account opening procedure, whereby debit and credit cards can be issued within 15 minutes. Anyone with jars of coppers will be pleased to know a coin-counting facility will also be free-to-use for its customers and non-customers alike, and it will be creatively call the Metro Bank Magic Money Machine.
At present there are only plans to open branches within the M25, with the first two being in central London; Holborn and Earls Court.
There is a certain amount of hype surrounding the launch, with three days worth of entertainment and giveaways including free breakfasts, smoothies, popcorn and oyster card holders.
The co-founder and chairman of Metro Bank, Anthony Thomson, has said, “We have been preparing for this day for a long time and are delighted it’s finally here. We plan to offer our customers a great retail experience, and we want banking to be fun for everyone”.
It is believed Vernon Hill, also a co-founder, is basing Metro Bank on a model he developed in the US, the Commerce Bank. The US bank philosophy is centred on the notion that they were retailers, not bankers, and instead should value the service of customers extremely highly. This viewpoint was represented in the fact Hill referred to Commerce’s outlets as stores, as opposed to branches.
The Metro Bank will be helping they can tempt some of the estimated 1 million adults who are currently bank account-less.