New high street entrant Metro Bank has completed its first month in operation with customers lining up at its inaugural Holborn branch, reports say, leading to expectations that its entry into the retail banking sector in Britain will be quite successful.
The new retail and business bank account provider, which was founded by Financial Services Forum chairman Anthony Thomson and Commerce Bancorp US founder Vernon Hill, has been billing themselves as a more customer service driven bank by engaging in such activities as extended opening hours. Metro Bank is open 7 days a week, 12 hours a day on weekends from 8 to 8 and 6 hours a day every Saturday and Sunday from 10 AM to 4 PM, in efforts to differentiate themselves from their competition.
In an era when customer service issues are becoming more and more of a problem, especially in light of record numbers of complaints being reported by such banking giants as HSBC and Santander, industry experts say that any way a bank can distinguish itself in regards to customer satisfaction is bound to prove popular.
Craig Donaldson, chief executive of Metro Bank, reported that the number of customers coming in to open personal and business bank accounts this month has been so high that it has exceeded its entire first year projections.
Mr Donaldson stressed that there has been a strong interest coming from both the business and personal bank account markets
Metro Bank recently opened the doors on its second branch, located in Earl’s Court, with a full dozen more branches in the works that are scheduled to be opened to the public by 2012. Metro’s long-term goals over the next ten years are to expand their branch network to a potential of at least 200 locations in London alone, all by 2020.
As the expansion plans continue to progress, Metro Bank is seeking to hire on approximately 100 new staff members.