News

Lloyds Bank bets big on 'micro branches'

April 10, 2017

Following on the heels of announcements by HSBC and the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Bank has confirmed that it will be scaling down its branches in the U.K.

Literally.

Lloyds previously had announced plans to shutter 400 U.K. branches and lay off 9,000 employees. This current move will reduce the footprint of most of the bank's remaining branches. In some cases, facilities will shrink to as little as 1,000 square feet.

These "micro branches," as Lloyds is calling them, will be modeled after an existing prototype in London, which is staffed with just two full-time employees and does not have traditional teller windows.

Like other banks, Lloyds attributed the downscaling to the effects of digital technologies, which have brought about "a profound change in customer behavior," and greatly reduced branch traffic, the bank said in a statement.

The micro branches will provide video links that will allow customers to confer with a remote banker about products such as mortgages. For many more complex needs, however, customers will have to go to one of the bank's 20 full-service centers, which will be located in hub cities across the U.K.