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Excuse me for being a bit cynical but this seems so wrong on so many levels.

1. It seems almost entirely focussed on the 'convenience' of the operator rather than the customer - or maybe it is just me that doesn't quite see the appeal of standing outside to start a transaction and then queuing up inside to actually get my cash.

2. Weren't ATM 'invented' to cut out the middle-man - the teller/cashier - in the first place?

3. Err, didn't cashback get there first?  

4. Even payment services providers such as Paypoint (which already has 30,000 terminals in the UK, Romania and RoI) could do this if it was such an amazing idea.

Maybe I'm missing something but the statement that this "is one of the most important products ever to be introduced to the self-service banking industry"  seems to be a candidate for Marketing Hyperbole of the Year!. ' Course, happy to hear where I've missed the plot!

Robin,

I really really like (the idea of) Breeze too.  However, it doesn't seem to me to be PFM - or at least not traditional PFM. Just decent mobile banking. Although... maybe that it was is good about it (!)  Maybe PFM is about managing money on the move and managing money in privacy.  And is two (or more) separate things?

As far as mobile banking are concerned i think there are few who can touch Breeze for its usability and appeal.  It's a world leader in this respect for sure.  But I'm not sure it really helps budget or plan or manage

But Breeze seems to be aimed at the 'too cool for school' segment.  It's nice that we know who the 'coolest intern' in the world is and great they work for SC- but has it improved the service that long standing customers have received - I guess we'll wait for that one.  Gareth

This is surely an April 1 post not April 7? Unbelievable!

Martin,  aquaclear are a good brand! Always serve me well when I'm sat in my shelter under the stairs.   

good point - in part that was what I was trying to elicit with the post.

Here are some of the things I'd like to see-

Loyalty recognition - I do want better treatment for being with a bank for 25 years.  Sorry!  And not 'fake' loyalty by offering me 'premium' (or ego) banking for which I pay an extra monthly fee and for which I get a bundle of things like travel insurance, phone insurance, etc. that I may already have.

Better tie-ins.  As I said, we need banks as facilitators not for the products themselves - so tighter integration with what I use banking products to buy for example.

Not screwing up.  Because of the fiduciary duty, I do get it that banks need checks (no pun intended!)and balances (same!) but there is way too much bureaucracy and process complexity.  This paradoxically introduces higher opportunity for error.  Changing your primary address is hard to do at most banks - and often goes from point of capture to some back-office verification stage and involves mailings and so on.  There are slicker ways of doing this.

John, I think you're right about the contributory factor of oligopolistic cartel behaviour.  It also doesn't help that the products we use are actually pretty commoditised - but that should only encourage differentiation by service surely?!

I'd actually not advocate that banks forsake service for transactional excellence or least-cost only provision - but a mindset change to not take things for granted!

Switching is getting easier I think - but your point is well made, it doesn't matter how slick a switch is if you swap rubbish for garbage!

One slight downside of the proliferation of RCA CAP type readers (you can get them here on ebay for 2 quid/3 euros) is they have made atm crime a little more easy!  Here's how - 

In the good old days, if you wanted to exploit a stolen atm card, you either had to mug someone and beat the PIN out of them, and trust they were sufficiently scared to give you the correct number - or more usually you had to shuffle up to the atm with your victim and get him to enter his PIN and card at gun, fist or knife-point - not so subtle - especially with camera-enabled atms.

Now, while the readers do not work cross-bank to hand out transaction keys, they do work to validate a PIN to a card - irrespective of bank.

So all the purp has to do is force the victim to enter his PIN into a reader - any reader will do, he/she only needs one - and it will instantly show whether the PIN is correct. This can all be done from the comfort of his/her darkened alley.

Simples!

Atti, your real-world experiences echo mine.  Your example of the transfer/payments location is a great one - ostensibly a usability issue, easily solved technically - but the real issue is the organisational thinking, structure and culture.  

Not very customer centric by any definition!  Even these problems can be solved - but probably not by bankers.