Bank sparks anger after cutting its hours

Natwest has reduced the opening hours of their on campus branch due to the running costs of the service.

Since Monday 8 November, the branch has opened from 11am until 3pm, Monday to Friday, in comparison to its previous opening hours of 10am until 4pm, despite some students finding it difficult to sort out their personal banking matters even before the change.

When asked if competition from neighbouring banks Santander and Barclays was the reason for the change in hours, Mary Donoghue, the Natwest branch manager, said “no” and that the move was “a decision made by head office based on running costs and low footfall”.

Students who spoke to the Boar were experiencing problems with the revised opening times only days into their implementation. One customer, Hani, who had been queuing outside Natwest for thirty minutes, told the Boar “I have an issue with my bank account but I need to sort it out now because I have a busy day”.

Another student said she found it difficult to sort out banking issues along with attending her timetabled lectures and seminars, “I’m busy twelve until five today, eleven until seven tomorrow; Thursday and Friday are no good for me either”.

Natwest are now also putting restrictions on the times in which individuals can sign up as new customers because of the time constraints. Potential customers wanting to open an account now only have one designated hour per day to do so. However, Santander (open from 10am until 6pm) and Barclays (open from 9.30am until 4.30pm) have enjoyed a successful first few weeks with each quoting around five hundred new customers in Fresher’s Week alone. Santander Personal Banking Advisors Gee Dugh and Bal Cheema added that they had noticed a rise in unhappy Natwest customers who have switched their accounts over to benefit from Santander’s “more efficient service”.

As an alternative, Natwest suggests that students should manage their accounts online instead of coming into branch. However, if students have issues that need to be dealt with at a branch but cannot make it to the campus bank during its opening hours, the only other option is to take a bus to Leamington or Coventry, where other Natwest branches are located.