Tara-a-bit banks, hello Dudley! We are committed to staying in your local area

While many banks are closing their branches on local high streets, we have launched a campaign to reiterate our commitment to maintaining physical branches within the Black Country region.

 

The campaign started last week, in the Merry Hill Shopping Centre, where we had displayed on the big screen messages with the lead line ‘Tara-a-bit banks, Hello Dudley’.

 

James Paterson, our Chief Executive Officer, explained: "People still really value the physicality of a branch service and the personal service, safety and security it brings. Locally we are seeing banks exit from the market in a big way in terms of removing that physical presence.”

 

"We have seen £20m in new savings applications into the Dudley Building Society in the past four weeks which shows that there's still a huge demand for those offering a good product and physical service, alongside the option of online banking.”

 

James confirmed that we are looking to open new branches, moving forward, if we find suitable locations. "We want to let people know that we are here to stay, and we want to make sure we maintain our branch network” he said.

 

"We are exploring further branch openings and having a think about we might open those branches. We have launched a study and we are looking to work out where people live and work and what areas across the Black Country would welcome a new branch.”

 

"We will make genuine efforts to start new branches, thinking about areas which may well now be without branches and where we may be able to go in and support customers. That's something we are actively trying to do and it's a case of watch this space. Hopefully, we will be in a place later this year when we will have more clarity on where such locations might be.”