P-04-618 Protection of Banking Services in Vulnerable
Communities – Correspondence from the Petitioner to the
Committee, 21.05.2015
Please accept the considered points of members of the
community in Llangollen as listed below for your consideration.
Thank you.
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It
is detrimental to small businesses when local branch managers are
stripped down to being little more than clerks because local
knowledge of circumstances and, indeed, of long-term relationship
within the community - ie trust - has been factored out and
dehumanised, even though one of the key components of programmes
such as Dragons' Den and The Apprentice are founded on evaluating
the business people above the business ideas.
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It's
a UK-wide strategic vulnerability to abandon both personal and
business finance to supermarkets who would undoubtedly identify a
gap in the market in providing personal service in favour of their
own financial services. My nightmare is towns with homes and a
supermarket - and nothing else. We're heading that way.
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On
the issue of paying in. Years ago my bank had a paying in box for
when the bank was closed. Basically you put the cash or cheque in a
special envelope, filled in the details on the outside and posted
it. Stan's post office counter uses the same principle you give
them an envelope and they forward it to right bank, and give you a
receipt.
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The
difficulty for small communities is making sure we are not
disadvantaged by the decisions taken by money men who rarely set
foot outside a major city unless it is to play golf or hunt
something, and in either case they will have people to care to the
boring things like actually paying cash to peasants.
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Speaking as a member of the public, it really wouldn't bother
me if all banks shut all their branches, provided that there are
plenty of ATMs and there is a facility to pay in cash/cheques. The
post office does this well, in fact with Stan's longer opening
hours it is more convenient.
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However, there is another issue that affects small towns that
the minister and the bankers with their city-based lives haven't
considered Small businesses.
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For
some reason the post office will not accept payments into business
accounts, doesn't bother me my business is so small I use a
personal account for it, but closing HSBC has caused some local
businesses real problems. They have a choice, take the day's
takings to Chirk, or change banks.
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Maybe some have changed, but that's a nuisance and what
guarantee have they that the bank they choose will not close in the
near future. Pledges about 'the last bank standing' don't guarantee
it will be your bank, and actually put pressure on banks to close
their branch before it is the last one.
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Some
businesses that are part of a group have a bigger problem, their
banking arrangements are determined at head office level. North
Wales Tourism for example (the group that runs the Tourist Info
Centre) banks with HSBC and isn't going to change. Previously the
TIC manager could nip across the road to HSBC with their takings,
now she has to send a member of staff in a car to Chirk. This means
staff out of the office for much longer, the need to have a car
available and for the company to pay expenses. Some staff are
unhappy about parking in Chirk and walking to the bank with a
sackful of cash and will only go in pairs. But it is also not good
practice these days to leave an office with only one member of
staff on duty.