Remember when you went to your high street bank and found yourself in a trendy wine bar instead? Well, next time you visit you're more likely to wonder if you've stumbled into the Apple Store by mistake. Financial services is becoming an ultra-competitive market, and banks are deploying acres of advertising space and branding sophistry to differentiate their intangible products from the rest. For their branch networks, this means a dramatic retail-style makeover - and a very attractive financial offering for the construction industry. HSBC, the world's second largest bank by market value, is furthest advanced. By the end of this year, it will have upgraded 200 of its 1,500 UK branches, repositioning them as hi-tech "stores", with rigorous red and black branding and hoards of grinning staff on hand to help. Stewart Sharp, the bank's head of capital projects, is aiming to refurbish 60 branches a year, and is overseeing an overall spending programme of pound;250m.
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