Reformatting of a Branch as Banking Products Sales Channel in the Context of the Changes in the Custom Requirements of the Clients

The changes witnessed by the banks have been inspired by the changes in the consumers’ behavior. Some 20 years ago, a branch was nearly the sole channel and the single opportunity for a bank’s brand to be introduced to the consumer. Even today, branches generate over 90% of the sales for greater part of the retail banks, despite the rapid development of alternative channels. However, the role of a branch in the mix of channels is being changed significantly. Profound changes take place in business models, technologies and scenarios of consumer banking. These transformations are reflected by the rational arrangement of the clients’ flows within branches. The object of this article is to consider certain trends in the outfitting of banking branches and their analysis based on the comparison of the banking branches reformatting program adopted by Sberbank of Russia, the largest Russian bank, with the best world experience. The article contains suggestions on improving consumer banking quality, as well as recommendations that may be implemented at the level of the banking office, or at least those that do not require complete re-engineering of consumer banking processes.