A community bank in Pennsylvania has opened a new “Branch of the Future”. Located in Richland Township, Gibsonia, the Mars National Bank branch offers a highly automated banking experience featuring biometric security.
It still employs real human beings, and they are trained to meet a range of customers’ banking needs, but if all goes well their main function will be to greet customers as they walk in before directing them to the highly automated service area. There, customers will be able to engage with transaction “pods,” use meeting rooms, and even access safety deposit boxes via biometric authentication.
In a statement announcing the new branch, Mars National Bank SVP Mark Drenchko suggested the branch was designed to adapt as “the way people bank is changing.” The bank’s aim is to “continue to evolve our best practices and provide the relationship banking and technology and tools people want from a 21st century community bank.”
It is perhaps a prudent move given the digital revolution sweeping the banking and payments industries, with the introduction of biometric authentication being a particularly salient trend: A recent report suggested that the market for biometric products in banking could generate $5.5 billion in revenues by 2020, for example; and major companies like Diebold are working on biometric authentication for ATMs. By getting in on the technological trends early, Mars National Bank could be setting itself up for greater success down the line as customer expectations continue to evolve.
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November 18, 2015 – by Alex Perala
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