At final, we would lastly get the banking hubs we want

It seems that the rules governing the opening (and running) of one-stop banking hubs could soon be relaxed. 

If so, it will be great news for many communities which to date have not met the strict eligibility criteria laid down by the banks for a hub to be established.

It could also result in existing hubs providing a wider range of banking services than currently, increasing their relevance to consumers and small businesses. 

For those of you who are unfamiliar with hubs, they are community banks that, under one roof, offer basic services for personal and small business customers of all the mainstream banks.

Their set-up costs are funded by the big banks via an organisation called Cash Access UK and are run by the Post Office. 

Staff from the big banks are on hand once a week to offer face-to-face advice. So far, 147 have been given the go ahead although only 71 are open for business (finding suitable premises is often a nightmare).

Currently, hubs are only permitted in towns that have lost their last bank branch. But a town without a bank does not automatically guarantee a hub. Far from it.

Parsimonious with their own money, the banks have so far laid down strict conditions governing their opening.

First, the town must be deemed ‘big’ enough to support one (rather subjective). It then can’t have a branch of Nationwide on its high street because the banks believe the building society’s presence makes the requirement for a hub redundant.

As banking expert and community bank champion Derek French has long argued, this is patently not true (no surprises there) because Nationwide does not offer banking services to small businesses. 

So if a town is left with a Nationwide and no banks, local small businesses are left with minimal access to high street banking. 

An unsatisfactory state of affairs – French’s home town of Harpenden is caught in just such a position.

Yet it seems the banks are now being forced to have a hub rethink. Not because they have suddenly come over all gooey-eyed, but as a result of pressure from the new Government which wants 350 hubs up and running by 2029 as part of its ambitious plan for revitalising the country’s struggling high streets. 

One of Labour’s few good ideas so far, which probably means it will soon die a death. Sources within the banking industry tell me that a vote among the banks on relaxing their criteria for hub openings is currently taking place.

If ‘relaxation’ gets the go ahead – we should know early next month – it could mean up to 20 towns previously denied a hub because of having a Nationwide branch being granted one. Hurrah, I say.

Towns where the Nationwide branches have restricted opening hours – for example Kenilworth in Warwickshire and Rugeley in Staffordshire – will be prioritised. Harpenden should also get a hub.

Going forward, towns left bankless when the last branch shuts will then not be automatically denied a hub because a Nationwide branch sits on its high street. 

This should increase the rate of new hub openings and the chances of Labour’s promise of 350 hubs being met.

Alongside this push for more hubs, the banks are also likely to come under extreme pressure to improve the services they offer through them. Labour’s Tulip Siddiq, Economic Secretary to the Treasury, is keen to make headway on this issue – and she is absolutely right in her line of thinking.

Earlier this year I went up to Cambuslang on the outskirts of Glasgow to visit its successful hub. 

Community representatives that I met there said the hub could have a far wider rejuvenating impact on the local area if only its services were broadened and opening hours extended.

They also liked the idea of the community bank becoming more of a community hub – incorporating other key services such as advice on eligibility for benefits (pension credit, for example) and maybe a mini-library.

These are great ideas that should be championed by Siddiq.

The gaps in banking services at hubs are currently horrible – and frankly unacceptable. 

For example, new bank accounts cannot be opened. This is madness given staff from the main banks are on site at all hubs on specific days.

Surely, these bank employees should be empowered to help people open new accounts – and thereby generate new business (and revenues) for their employer. Everyone wins: the bank, the hub and local people.

Even really basic tasks such as printing out a customer’s bank statement cannot be done at a hub. Talk about minimalist banking. It’s unacceptable and Siddiq is right to want the banks to raise their game.

So far, the banks have been reluctant backers of hubs – investing the minimum in a concept which they believe (and hope) will only be temporary as banking becomes mobile dominated and the need for cash withers on the vine.

Yet, it seems a bit of political muscle will now force them to accept that hubs – and smarter ones at that – are actually here to stay. They are the small price they must pay for taking an axe to their individual branch networks.

Let’s hope the banks do the sensible thing and vote for a future that permits hubs to flourish where once their own branches stood proud. We deserve no less.