Case Study — Retail Banking / Operating Model Transformation
A high-street bank needed its branch closure decisions restructured after a single cost-per-transaction metric had been driving closures without accounting for the decisions branch staff were still resolving that digital channels couldn't.
The Transformation Framework™
Branch closures were formally decided by a regional committee, but driven almost entirely by cost-per-transaction — a metric that ignored the customer decisions branches were still resolving that digital channels weren't built to handle.
The metric persisted because it was the only branch data reported centrally by finance. Building the case for a broader metric would have complicated a closure programme already underway and politically difficult to pause.
We proposed a decision-authority metric alongside the existing cost metric, tracking which customer issues branches resolved that digital couldn't — giving regional committees explicit authority to weight both rather than defaulting to cost alone.
The metric was piloted across 40 branches for two quarters before network-wide rollout, alongside a formal review of the closure programme against the combined metric set.
Nine branches previously flagged for closure were removed from the list after review, each showing decision-authority activity well above the network average. Customer satisfaction in retained high-decision-authority branches rose 6 points against a flat network average.
Measured Outcomes
Reflection
"Cost-per-transaction is an easy number to report and a poor way to decide what a branch is actually for."
James Whitcombe — Principal, Retail BankingEngagement team
Head of Operating Model Transformation
Principal, Retail Banking
Senior Consultant