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  • calender-icon Event
  • Posted: 31 Jul 2026

Reimagining the branch: bringing human advice into the digital age

22
Sep
2026

  • Calender-Icon Time: 11:00 - 12:00
  • Location-Icon Location: Webinar
  • Admin-Icon Organised By: SBS
  • Currency-Icon Free to attend
A free webinar hosted by BSA Associate,
 

The UK's branch network has been fundamentally reshaped. More than 6,700 bank and building society branches have closed since 2015, representing around 68% of the total network. Yet consumer demand for in-person support has not disappeared. It has evolved.


Digital channels now dominate routine transactions, reshaping how customers engage with their bank or building society. But buying a first home, opening a savings account for a child's future, planning for retirement: these are the moments that still call for a human conversation. SBS research found that 85% of consumers would use an in-person service if their bank or building society made it more accessible. The appetite is there. The question is how to meet it.

The challenge for UK banks and Ó£ÌÒɬ¸£Àû¼§ is not whether branches still matter, it is whether they can reinvent them. Traditional, fixed locations are only one part of the answer. The modern branch is defined by flexibility: the ability to connect customers and members with knowledgeable colleagues wherever they need them, through community-based hubs, shared spaces, or pop‑up locations. Branches shift from being a legacy cost to manage to a strategic capability to deploy.

This webinar brings together senior voices from across the industry to examine what a modern branch model looks like in practice, and what it takes to make it a reality.

The key takeaways:
  • The state of UK branch networks: what the data really tells us
  • Why trusted conversations with knowledgeable colleagues still matter at life's most important financial moments
  • What a modern branch model looks like beyond bricks and mortar
  • How to balance digital convenience with flexible, accessible in-person services
  • Enabling branch transformation without unsustainable costs

Speakers:
Ben Verdin, Head of Product & Strategy, UK Lending, SBS 
Julia Brook, Chief Customer Officer, Marsden Building Society
Joseph Thompson, Economist, Building Societies Association

Event Summary

  • Tuesday, 22 September 2026
  • 11:00 - 12:00
  • abby.foulkes@sbs-software.com; dani.mcnabb@sbs-software.com
  • Free to attend

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