Bank discourages branch use

Britain`s biggest savings bank is trying to discourage some customers from using its branches in a bid to reduce queues, reports The Guardian.

Halifax is testing a system in 20 London branches where customers with a Cardcash account are asked not use its counter service, but instead carry out all their banking using cash machines, the telephone and the Internet.

The Cardcash account is a basic account used by people who do not want the range of services provided by a current account, such as an overdraft.

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The use of online banking and credit cards in Israel rose sharply last year, while number of bank branches and ATM points fell and their use by the public declined, according to the Bank of Israel Banking Supervision Department report for 2004.

Globes Online reports that the number of debit and credit transactions by bank tellers fell 7%, continuing a trend that began in the 1990s. At the same time, the number of requests for information via the Internet rose 48%, compared with the fourth quarter of 2003.

Growing use of online banking and computerised telephone directories has led to a decline in the number of ATMs and customer terminals.

SAP chief executive Henning Kagermann told the Financial Times the software maker wants to expand in the banking software market, reports Forbes.

"The parts of that market where we compete are worth $9 billion," Kagermann told the Financial Times.

Separately, Kagermann told Handelsblatt he expects a wave of consolidation among smaller companies that create banking industry software.