I listened last night to the Up all Night radio phone which – despite other topics being available – was dominated by elderly people complaining their local bank branch had been closed. People were taking about 3 hour train and taxi rides to visit a branch. They were phoning in, emailing in and texting in – concerned about using digital banking.
This morning my twitter feed contains this
A very important issue! https://t.co/wpzoever9b
— ElaineGolding#FreeMouradTahbaz (@Elainebks) April 10, 2023
Why the problem is now acute
I am not in the pay of a bank but I do see the expense of keeping open branches where tellers and support staff are so under-deployed. Ros Altmann is right to see the closure of bank branches as a windfall to shareholders and I hope she considers coordinating some action to ensure that the elderly are not excluded from online and telephone banking.
The arguments for keeping branches are well rehearsed but they look increasingly weak. The only retail banking activity that can’t be carried out online is the physical withdrawal and depositing of cash. Cashpoints are usually available at supermarkets and petrol stations and excellent telephone banking is also available for those nervous about banking online. I don’t support arguments that banks are financial social clubs, that’s patronizing and wrong.
Time to get more of UK’s elderly accessing online and telephone banking
Isn’t it time we looked at this problem the other way round? Elderly people can do internet banking and many do. They can use devices that make it easy for them to pay in cheques , pay bills and set up direct debits
For the cost of keeping banks open , banks could close branches and provide the physical support to elderly people to allow them bank digitally.
I’m suggesting a coordinated campaign organized by the charities for the elderly and focusing on delivering support through the places older people go – their clubs, places of worship and health hubs like surgeries and outpatients. This work is already going on and I can see evidence of it on the web.
But getting to places like The Royal British Legion and offering help using the internet is a partnership waiting to happen. What better way to show you are taking the consumer duty seriously?
This campaign could and should focus on getting elderly people help with the instillation of home broadband, the purchase of simple devices enabled to access the web and training on simple skills needed to navigate banking apps.
Banks should be targeting resource at the over 70s with a view to making it unusual for any pensioner not to have had the opportunity to bank online.
Making it easier for carers, family and advisers to help
As this kind and sensitive article in the Daily Mail, points out, the most able to provide this support are younger relatives with the skill and motivation to help.
Many elderly people are prepared to do their banking with their children or carers and while there are obvious risks from sharing security details, I’ve got first hand experience of managing affairs both under power of attorney and through tutoring. Financial advisers – either to the family or to the elderly themselves, can help a lot.
More could be done to make the joint management of online accounts safer and more popular. Arguments that accounts are less secure digitally than through branch banking don’t hold much water, elderly people are vulnerable to fraud however they manage their money and the worst danger is that by closing banking branches, elderly people store cash at home.
It looks urgent that we pay attention to this area of vulnerability in our banking system as the cost of maintaining the branch networks relative to usage can only increase.
Do you agree that we have a consumer duty to help the vulnerable old get access to on-line or phone based banking? Have any firms written such support on digital banking into their consumer duty implementation plans?