Lloyds shrinks hundreds of branches

Lloyds shrinks hundreds of branches

With customer visits plummeting, Lloyds Bank is shrinking the size of hundreds of its branches, ditching tellers in favour of tablet-yielding wandering staffers.

According to the BBC, the Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland 'micro branches' will be staffed by only two people and a host of machines.

The employees will be armed with tablets to help customers with questions, while the machines will offer a range of services including deposits and video links to mortgage advisors.

To make the micro sites, which will be as small as 1000 square feet, the bank plans to simply board up places in existing branches.

"We have a lot of branches that used to have a lot of footfall, and therefore feel quite empty and intimidating for customers," Jakob Pfaudler, COO, retail, Lloyds, told the BBC.

Lloyds is already in the midst of a three year programme to shut 4000 branches by the end of 2017 as it bids to cut costs and retool for the digital age.

It is also putting mobile van branches on the road and opening 20 flagship branches, which Pfaudler compares to Apple Stores. The first will appear in Manchester this year.

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