Julie Oxberry, CEO and Co-Founder, Household
The high street bank needs a new script. Metro and TSB are reportedly in talks to be acquired. Santander is turning its branches into cafés and dementia clinics. Yet, despite these radical gestures, the mood around the high street bank remains the same: decline, disruption, and an ever-growing gulf between what banks offer and what people actually want.
Customers are walking away from traditional branch banking. The smart banks should let them … and meet them somewhere better.
What is the point of a physical bank branch in 2025? For most people, especially Gen Z, the honest answer is not much. They can transfer money, pay friends, invest, and build a credit score, all from their phones. In-person banking is a low-frequency, high-cost option that feels more like a legacy than a lifeline, and people have stopped visiting branches because banks have forgotten how to make visits matter.
The only way the branch model can survive is if it stops measuring success by footfall and starts designing physical spaces around ‘episodic value.’ Rather than banks pondering how they get people through the doors more often, they should be creating moments so practical, personal, and powerful that showing up becomes a no-brainer. Experiences that can be realised by a more progressive way of thinking about the model.
The ‘clinic’ model: High-impact, low-frequency.
Treat the branch like a specialist financial clinic. Customers only need to go when it really matters – for example, buying a home, dealing with debt, or starting a business – but they leave with something that really justifies the trip. These are life-stage moments, not transactions, and they require empathy, time, and expertise, things an app alone can’t offer. It would mean smaller footprints, fewer locations, and booking-based, high-service appointments. This model is intimate and radically outcome-focused, with success measured not by the number of people who come through the door but by what changes for them when they do.
Or banks should consider monetising their real estate differently by transforming branches into hybrid commercial spaces: part bank, part co-working, part community studio. The bank becomes a host, not just a service provider, leasing space to fintech startups, financial content creators, or sustainability-driven SMEs. Create tiered access, such as free financial workshops, paid private advisory services, bookable booths, and a paid membership model offering perks, events, and access (like Soho Works or The Wing, but with a focus on financial benefits and purpose). This model will generate revenue even when no one is conducting transactions. Building cultural capital, not just economic.
Alternatively, if people don’t come to the bank, bring the bank to them: go where life happens! Mobile units at universities during Freshers’ Week, tax-support kiosks at train stations, Side side-hustle clinics in co-working spaces. These aren’t gimmicks; they’re interventions in the moments that matter most. It’s a more affordable model, more flexible, and aligns with modern patterns of movement and attention rather than trying to pull people back to outdated ones.
Rethinking the Gen Z opportunity
Banks often discuss engaging younger customers as if it were a technological challenge. It’s not. It’s a relevance challenge. Gen Z doesn’t want a better interface. They want a better relationship. One rooted in transparency, flexibility, and actual outcomes. They want help building a freelance career, not a lecture on saving 10%. They want personalised planning, not just product bundles. This means rethinking branches as occasional, transformational experiences rather than everyday errand stops. Give Gen Z tools to visualise their goals. Help them plan holidays, move into a new house, and start a business. Make the bank feel like a partner in growth, not a gatekeeper to credit.
If branches die, it won’t be because of online banking. It’ll be because they were allowed to drift into irrelevance. The future of the bank branch isn’t about getting people in more often. It’s about making even the rarest of in-person visits so valuable, memorable, and multidimensional that they drive loyalty, trust, and revenue for years to come.
Not more visits. Better reasons to visit. If branches evolve into spaces that provide cultural value, smart life support, and strategic IRL presence, then maybe we’re not witnessing the death of the bank but its second act.
