We may finally get the banking centers we need, says JEFF PRESTRIDGE

It looks like the rules for opening (and running) one-stop banking hubs will be relaxed soon.

If so, it will be good news for the many communities that have so far failed to meet the strict criteria set by the banks for establishing a hub.

It could also lead to existing hubs offering a wider range of banking services than they do today, making them more relevant to consumers and small businesses.

For those of you unfamiliar with hubs, these are local banks that offer basic services to retail and small business customers of all major banks under one roof.

The start-up costs are funded by the major banks through an organisation called Cash Access UK and administered by the Post Office.

Employees of the major banks are there once a week to give personal advice. So far, 147 banks have been given the green light, although only 71 are open (finding suitable premises is often a nightmare).

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

The banks are frugal with their own money and have so far imposed strict conditions on their opening.

Firstly, the town has to be deemed ‘big’ enough to support one (quite subjective). Secondly, the town can’t have a Nationwide branch on its high street because the banks feel that the presence of the building society makes the requirement for a hub redundant.

As banking expert and community bank advocate Derek French has long argued, this is blatantly untrue (no surprise there), as Nationwide does not offer banking services to small businesses.

So if a city has a Nationwide but no banks, local small businesses have little access to banking.

An unsatisfactory situation: French’s birthplace, Harpenden, finds itself in such a situation.

Yet it seems the banks are now being forced to reconsider a hub. Not because they’ve suddenly got a slimy face, but as a result of pressure from a new government that wants 350 hubs up and running by 2029 as part of its ambitious plan to revitalise the country’s struggling high streets.

One of the few good ideas from Labour so far, which probably means it will soon die a quiet death. Banking industry sources tell me there is currently a vote among banks on relaxing their criteria for hub openings.

If ‘easing’ gets the green light – we should know by early next month – it could mean up to 20 cities previously denied a hub because they had a Nationwide branch will now get one. Hurrah, I say.

Towns where Nationwide stores have limited opening hours – for example Kenilworth in Warwickshire and Rugeley in Staffordshire – will be prioritised. Harpenden is also set to get a hub.

In future, towns that no longer have a bank when the last branch closes will not be automatically excluded from becoming a hub because there is a Nationwide branch on the high street.

This should increase the number of new hubs opening and the chances of Labour’s promise of 350 hubs being delivered.

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

Earlier this year I visited Cambuslang, on the outskirts of Glasgow, to tour the successful centre.

Community representatives I met there said the hub could have a much greater rejuvenating impact on the local area if services were expanded and opening hours were extended.

They also liked the idea of ​​the neighbourhood bank becoming more of a community centre, with other important services such as advice on benefit eligibility (e.g. pension credit) and perhaps a mini library.

These are great ideas that Siddiq should champion.

The gaps in banking services at the hubs are currently appalling – and downright unacceptable.

For example, new bank accounts cannot be opened, which is madness, as staff from the major banks are present at all hubs on specific days.

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

Even very basic tasks like printing a customer’s bank statement can’t be done in a hub. Talk about minimalist banking. It’s unacceptable and Siddiq is right to want banks to up their game.

So far, banks have been reluctant to support hubs, investing minimally in a concept they believe (and hope) will only be temporary as banking becomes increasingly mobile and the need for cash diminishes.

Yet it seems that a little political muscle will now force them to accept that hubs – and smarter ones at that – are here to stay. They are the small price to pay for cutting away their individual branch networks.

Let’s hope the banks do the sensible thing and vote for a future where hubs can flourish where their own branches once stood proud. We deserve nothing less.