A cynical smokescreen for closures

THE Campaign For Community Banking Services claims the mobile bank is nothing more than a cynical public relations stunt – a smokescreen to hide the damage being done by the widespread axeing of branches.

The pressure group says that less than 3 per cent of those communities that have suffered a bank closure are then served by a bank on wheels.

Of the 950 communities that have lost all their bank branches in recent years only 28 are now visited by a NatWest mobile bank.

Derek French, founder of the Campaign, says: ‘It is a public relations distraction to the very real damage being done to communities by bank closures. These mobile banks serve vulnerable individuals who are already customers and rarely drum up new business, so as a business model they are totally flawed.’

French points out that despite the fanfare made about the NatWest mobile banks – and the way they are used in advertising to promote an image of service to customers – two vans have been axed in the past five years.