Metro Bank has claimed that rental income from its safety deposit boxes covers 80% of its branch network rental costs. Currently, the bank has 80,000 safety deposit boxes in its branch network. The bank’s new Luton branch, which is expected to open later in 2017, is expected to have 6,000 deposit boxes. Metro Bank has announced that it recorded its one millionth customer on the Mayday Bank Holiday Monday. In contrast to many of its competitors, the bank was open on the day due to its seven-days-a-week policy
Royal Bank of Scotland Group is rolling out a customer service ‘hybrid bot’ that hands over to a human adviser if questions confuse its artificial intelligence. The technology, which started live testing in January 2017, includes natural language processing techniques with machine learning algorithms, enabling the bank to analyse every line of text that its customers enter during a conversation
4Keys International, a fraud consultancy company, has helped set up an action group for Santander customers who have fallen victim to online banking fraud. The action group will run on a no-win no-fee basis
CYBG is developing its new banking platform, which runs its ‘B’ banking app, to allow other services to be offered, such as discounts from a customer’s favourite coffee shop or retailer. The development also includes working with Amazon’s Alexa. CYBG has partnered with Market Gravity to create Studio B, an experiential banking innovation lab on Kensington High Street. The lab opened on Thursday 27 April 2017 and offers interactive experiences as well as banking facilities and self-service branch technology. It also invites members of the public, next generation innovators and designers to test, trial and provide feedback on new technology, develop new products and ideas and share insights on their banking behaviours
Monzo has opened ‘The Drawing Board’ in a meeting room in its East London headquarters. The collaborative community room will be used to host events and test out new ideas with its growing membership base