Bank’s service desks open only four hours a week

If you go into a BankNordik branch, you are greeted by the above sign, which translates to ”The till is only open Tuesdays 10am-12am and Thursdays 2pm-4pm”.

This means that the bank’s customers only have four hours per week in which to do their banking face-to-face with a bank employee.

BankNordik’s chief operational officer, Turið Finnbogadóttir Arge, says the thought of cutting down on physical customer services has been brewing for a few years, but the corona lockdown prompted the final decision.

 >> SEE ALSO Cash machine shortage puts pressure on retailers

“In this lockdown period, we all learned very quickly to sort out our domestic and business affairs online,” she says.

“And then, when we gradually reopened our branches after the lockdown, we saw that there wasn’t a great demand for our physical customer service.”

Arge insists that cutting down the customer service desk operating hours should not be regarded as a reduction in the bank’s general customer service level.

“Our consultancy services remain unchanged; it’s just that the number of people needing to do their banking at our customer service desks has gone down dramatically."

Translated by prosa.fo