Many banks have too many staff in their branch operations and
could save up to £50m a year throughautomation and self-service systems.
The gap between those banks that have become efficient through
automation and those that have not is growing.
According to research carried out by Compass Management
Consulting, the most efficient banks can operate branches with 30%
fewer staff than the average. As a result they can save between
£38m and £50m.
The Branch Productivity - Decision Time report revealed that
some banks are reluctant to introduce automation and self service
because they fear the customer experience will be damaged.
"The branch networks of retail banks face two challenges in
order to improve profitability: they need to generate higher
product sales and reduce the costs of routine transactions.
Automation is a major driver of performance improvement in
branches, but some banks remain cautious about the effect on
customer experience in the quest for better productivity," said
Paul Teather of Compass Management Consulting.
According to the report, while some banks remain reluctant to
introduce self-service and automation in cheque processing and
other areas, customer satisfaction levels can actually increase as
a direct result of such initiatives.