Is this the end for high-street banking?

Years of mis-selling products to their customers and the rise of online challengers spells oblivion for traditional high-street banking, says Matthew Lynn.

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Traditional branch banking: a thing of the past?
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On the surface, the Co-op Bank looks like it has plenty going for it. In an industry where banks are regarded as venal, money-grubbing hucksters, and where its rivals spend most of their time thinking up new ways to rip off their customers, its ethical image should have been a huge advantage. Organic, fair-trade food and clothing does brilliantly well, so there should be a niche in finance as well. The bank also has a relationship with what remains a huge supermarket chain the Co-op has more than 2,000 branches across the country and it should have been able to create a decent challenger to the big four banks.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.