The coronavirus pandemic has finally showed many businesses what their employees already knew – that they don’t need to be at their desks to do their jobs.
But governments, worried about the hollowing out of towns and city centres, are understandably keen for commuting to return. Banks, which have filled the airwaves with talk of being part of the solution to the coronavirus crisis, feel a bit stuck in the middle.
There are obvious areas where banks want their folk back – trading just isn’t the same without The Floor. But many roles surely only need to pop in for the occasional town hall. Employees might have to get comfortable with some surveillance, of course, but many might accept some downside for the upside of a desk out of town.
Retail
But what about retail? There was an intriguing report by Capitol Forum in August suggesting that JPMorgan might be preparing to offer its services in branches of the US Postal Service.
This sounds like it makes some sense. Bank CEOs that Euromoney has spoken to during our annual Awards for Excellence process regularly cite the cost of branch networks as one of the biggest headaches in their retail operations.
Scrapping them is not always the best answer – widening the scope of services they offer from them, such as wealth management or investing, might be better. What they don’t want to lose is the physical footprint that helps build connections with a community, particularly one that might be consuming their services for the first time.
Pop in to drop off a dozen pandemic-driven online shopping returns and come out having mandated JPMorgan for your firm’s IPO
If they can retain at least part of that physical presence, by leasing space from an existing network such as the post office, they might get the best of both worlds.
Euromoney likes to hope the initiative could spread to capital markets. After all, one investment bank source mused to Euromoney over the summer whether colleagues might gradually look to take advantage of their employer’s own local branch network if they needed workplace resources but didn’t want to schlep into the city.
Perhaps there’s scope here for a post office model. It could be a win-win for the client on the street – pop in to drop off a dozen pandemic-driven online shopping returns and come out having mandated JPMorgan for your firm’s IPO.
