Abbey National is to open a new bank branch within a Homebase DIY and gardening centre in Liverpool later this week as part of a pilot trialling the new in-store banking format.
The first location for the pilot is Edge Lane Retail Park Homebase in Liverpool and will open on 29 March 2002. If the pilot in-store branch is successful, Abbey National hopes to roll out the partnership to other Homebase stores in the UK.
The branch will have financial advisers on hand to provide straightforward face to face advice, plus Internet demonstration areas. A self-service fast banking area for quick and simple transactions will also be available.
Andrew Pople, Abbey National's managing director of the retail bank says: "We are fully committed to improving the convenience of our branch network, and one way to do that is to provide access to our services not only in the high street but in popular retail outlets that customers visit regularly."
The Homebase pilot is in line with similar partnerships Abbey National also has with Costa and Safeway. Abbey currently has 18 bank branch locations at Costa coffee shops in the UK, and 38 in-store branches inside Safeway supermarkets.