Letter: We are being manipulated by high street banks
SIR – At last the public seem to have woken up to how banks have manipulated us all into believing that high street banks and human interface are no longer required as we all relish internet DIY banking on the net!
What utter nonsense.
Like E. Holtham and A.C. Knight (Letters, 24th March) both Lymington and New Milton branches of Barclays were well used and, when open, there were always queues and someone with a clipboard to try and direct one to a machine (often the machine could not deal with the enquiry).
So called new tech (and the pandemic) has allowed bank financial directors to convince chief executives that people and buildings are no longer required, and huge savings in personnel and rates/maintenance can be made to their bottom lines.
This totally excludes the cost of fraud, technology and the geeks to run it, of course, to say nothing of valuing customer loyalty and customer relationships, all transferred to apps and phone lines where waiting times are totally unacceptable.
What we need are community banks in every town and village, like the Bank of Dave – David Fishwick's wonderful initiative in Burnley, made into a film and documentary series on Netflix.
Dave's idea is to bring back "dumped" banking staff and managers (remember those?) to value customers and help with loans and pay decent interest on deposit accounts (Barclays is currently paying 0.55% when the Bank of England base rate is 4.25% and rising – daylight robbery).
If one wishes to see someone in authority, one has to go to Bournemouth or Southampton branches – still open for the moment!
The mindless trust that is placed on internet banking is beyond me. As a master of Silicon Valley once told me: "If it's invented by a human brain, it will be hacked into by a human brain."
It is not safe without endless changing passwords, use of expensive smart phones, and can be very frustrating!
Customer services don't exist, and what is the true cost of fraud?
Finally, a big thank you to the excellent, helpful staff in Lymington and New Milton who looked after us since we moved to the area in 1996.
I hope you were well treated when your services were declared "surplus to requirements".
Warren Breach,
Sway
