Here A Branch, There A Branch, Everywhere...

The trend in opening new banking facilities has, for the most part, been concentrated on new locations for ATMs.

That is,until the supermarket banking idea came along.

Now, proving bank marketing people are looking for new, innovative ways to provide service and gain new customers, come original ideas for other "branches."

Large companies often have industrial or office parks or campuses where several thousand employees work each day. Some banks feel there is an opportunity on these corporate sites to put an in-house branch and build business. Hospitals and retirement communities appear to offer the same possibilities.

Sears and Allstate in Chicago, with about 4,500 employees each, offered room for Old Kent Financial Corp. to set up branches, which they did-and found they are profitable locations. The same scenario played out for Wachovia at the North Carolina Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, with 9,000 employees, and Star Banc Corp in Cincinnati at Proctor & Gamble Co., which has 14,000 on site employees.

Many banks have now opened part-time offices in retirement communities, with one, Sovereign Bank in Pennsylvania, even outfitting a recreational vehicle "mobile bank" to service several retirement areas on a regular schedule each week.

It almost makes one wonder where a branch may show up next!

Copyright © 1996 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 6, No. 8, 6/96