Take a ticket, take a seat and wait for the teller

By CHRIS DANIELS consumer issues reporter

At a time when most people feel their banks never want to physically meet them, one company has adopted special tactics to woo customers.

"Premier" branches of the ANZ bank are now springing up around the country, where customers will be spared the bother of queuing for a teller.

Instead, they are issued with a numbered ticket when they push a button on a dispensing post at the front of the branch.

They then take a comfy seat, watch the television and wait until their number is displayed on a screen along with the teller they should go to.

The Penrose branch in Auckland is one of a number that now offer special facilities for "high net value" customers, namely those who have lots of money.

A simple swipe of a specially issued card gains entry to an inner sanctum with tea, coffee and magazines waiting for the moneybags customer. The approach is used by banks in Australia, Asia, Europe and the United States.

Penrose branch customer Bronwyn Crighton, visiting the bank yesterday, said it was a good idea.

"It does really seem to work. Everyone sits down and waits. It's good."

David Tripe, director of Massey University's Centre for Banking Studies, said the ANZ move was not necessarily a sign of what bank branches across the country would soon be like.

Other banks would watch what the ANZ did, but this did not mean they would adopt the concept.

Service at the new-style branches would also provide a more orderly, tidier and better-looking service for people who went to branches for other transactions.

The ANZ had been one of the poorer-performing banks in terms of public satisfaction, so it was good to see it was trying to make some changes, said Mr Tripe. "It will be interesting to see how it all works for the ANZ. They may find it's a bit of a waste of time, and it may not generate much advantage for them."

He said the concept of offering special suites and facilities for those customers who had a lot of money or did a lot of business with the bank was nothing new.

In the past they would have been taken into an office and looked after in much the same way.