EDM 764 POST OFFICE BRANCHES WITHIN SUPERMARKETS 41 SIGNED

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Nearly Big James. The bank was already having difficulties in raising funds and the "Peston" story and subsequent run on the bank all compounded the problems Northern Rock had.

Northern Rock itself was heavily involved in the Sub Prime collapse in the USA in fact so much that other banks would lend it money even on the overnight rates that they usually do with each other. Then the following story evolved

Emergence

On 12 September 2007, Northern Rock asked the Bank of England, as lender of last resort in the United Kingdom, for a liquidity support facility due to problems in raising funds in the money market to replace maturing money market borrowings. The problems arose from difficulties banks faced over the summer of 2007 in raising funds in the money market. The bank's assets were always sufficient to cover its liabilities, but it had a liquidity problem because institutional lenders became nervous about lending to mortgage banks following the US sub-prime crisis. Bank of England figures suggest that Northern Rock borrowed £3 billion from the Bank of England in the first few days of this crisis.

Government intervention

With shares in Northern Rock plummeting by nearly a third, the British Government moved to reassure investors with the bank, with account holders urged not to worry about the bank going bust. The Treasury select committee chairman John McFall MP said: "I don't think customers of Northern Rock should be worried about their current accounts or mortgages."

Northern Rock is not the only British bank to have called on the Bank of England for funds since the sub-prime crisis began but is the only one to have had emergency financial support from the Tripartite Authority (The Bank of England, the FSA and HM Treasury). However, the bank was more vulnerable to a credit crunch as its 'high risk' business model depends on funding from the wholesale credit markets, 75% of its funds coming from this source. In his address to the Treasury Select Committee, Bank of England governor Mervyn King had stated emergency funds would be made available to any British bank that needed it, but at a penalty rate, to ensure that lenders who had made bad lending decisions would suffer relative to lenders who had made sensible lending decisions.
In December, the EU regulators approved Britain's actions to provide aid to the Bank by concluding that it was in line with European emergency aid rules.

Run on the bank

On Friday 14 September, the first day branches opened following the news, many customers queued outside branches to withdraw their savings. It was estimated that £1 billion was withdrawn by customers that day, about 5% of the total bank deposits held by Northern Rock. In one incident, police were called to the branch in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire when two joint account holders barricaded the bank manager in her office after she refused to let them withdraw £1 million from their account. Their money was held in an internet only account, which they were unable to access after the Northern Rock website failed due to the volume of customers trying to log on. Journalists such as the BBC's Robert Peston, who broke the news on his blog, have been seen as one of the main causes of the bank run.

On Monday 17 September, as worried savers continued to flock to some Northern Rock bank branches to withdraw their savings, it was reported that an estimated £2 billion had been withdrawn since the bank applied to the Bank of England for emergency funds. By early afternoon in London, Northern Rock's shares, which had lost 32% on the previous Friday, fell a further 40% from 438 pence to 263 pence.

Later that day, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, announced that the British Government and the Bank of England would guarantee all deposits held at Northern Rock.] Northern Rock shares rose by 16% after this was announced.

[saunders265]

Bank of Ireland Share now at €00.23. I fancy we need even more Financial Service Specialists, and a few more Workshops probably wouldn't go amiss...

[monica]

we were told today that the one financial specialist at our office wasnt enough and we would be getting three once recruitment starts again.

[saunders265]

We already have three who spend much of their time (on their own admission) watching, along with something they call a 'Meeter and Greeter', four or five of us serving a queue of up to forty people. I was chatting to one of them the other day, a direct recruit from a Mobile Telephone Shop, who told me of the vast amount of money spent on his training. In his words, 'I cannot believe the amount of money this company wastes'. Nor can I.

They have given each of ours a Laptop Computer, I assume to give them something to alleviate the boredom...

Tomorrow several more will descend on the office, along with three or four extra managers, for something I have heard described as a 'Capability Day'. We had one the other day which was apparently a 'huge success' - we had 48 'referals' - with one actual sale. Bizarre...

[billyhayes]

Are you a flag-s**t office? Sounds as if you are, 'cos they tend to send all the non-jobs to these offices on these sorts of days, with no further staffing on the main counter. So you just have half a dozen management chunts staring at you thinking "send the referralls over you lazy bastard".

I bet the one sale that you got on the day was on 'life products' am I correct?

Good products sell themselves, 1 sale in 48 is shite in my book.

Can I get an amen!!??

[saunders265]

Indeed you are correct old chap - and you're attitude is boringly similar to mine!

We spend huge amounts of time ‘Practising Conversations’ (a farce in itself) and being ‘Observed’, but as you infer, if customers actually wanted what we want them to have, we wouldn’t have to go through all this nonsense. It’s a bit like trying to sell Giant Squid in the local Chippie when all people want is Cod…

I hear there is some concern over queues, so they are going to start measuring waiting times again. However, they still intend taking more people away from Counter Serving and putting them on FSS duties. Not the most complicated calculation in the world is it?

And where does this ‘Flagship’ stuff come from? I think there are over 50 of them, and only one is achieving target. Holed amidships…

Amen.

[saunders265]

Pardon me billyhayes, I have just noticed your gender - or is this a decoy?!

[billyhayes]

Flagship is an empty term, that they use to show that those chosen '50' are leading the way; the truth and the light; the 30 minute queues with 3 people serving...

[BELIAL]

All those common people stuck in innumerable queues . Now what does that remind me of

[monica]

our fss has been told that once the two new fss starts the counter will have to generate 3 times as many referalls as we do now. how i dont know. every day now seems to be a focus day where we av to sell a product as well as a top up, and some cash back

[simjan]

What we really need are bacon butties, chairs & a nice cup of coffee, then when the customers get to the counter they will be less annoyed at having to wait and may actually listan to the sales pitch instead of thinking have I put enough in the parking meter!

[bigjames]

Nearly Big James.

I did say it was a while since I studied Economics at school!! I may have got an A-level pass (when they were harder to get allegedly) But I only did Economics 'cos I fancied the teacher!!

[bigjames]

We already have three who spend much of their time (on their own admission) watching, along with something they call a 'Meeter and Greeter',

Have you had the refurb yet? I thought the intention with the 'Meeter and Greeter' was to segregate the customers before they got into the queue, or sat on the big red sofa. If you haven't had the refurb then your 'Meeter and Greeter' doesn't work properly as it is difficult to know what the customers are in for until they get to the head of the queue. I was told by a senior manager once that other retailers would, in his words - 'Cut their right arms off' for a queue of customers like ours. The difference is that in a High Street retailer the customer has already selected their purchase before they join the queue, with us they have to queue before they get anywhere near anyone to serve them. Add that to the fact that most people don't choose to come into the Post Office, they are drawn in by necessity and you have a problem. The new ticketing system is supposed to help segregate people by sending them directly to where they can be best served, and the 'Meeter and Greeter' is an essential part of that. Saying that, this is all theory at the moment as my office hasn't been done yet either, so I would be interested to hear if anyone has it in place.

[bigjames]

Flagship is an empty term, that they use to show that those chosen '50' are leading the way; the truth and the light; the 30 minute queues with 3 people serving...

Bit harsh - ours is about 25 minutes!!

[saunders265]

I did work for six weeks in The Galleries Bristol where some wonderful colleagues struggled daily with the Sofa/Ticket Machine Combo (just to get us back to the fast food reference). You need even more inefficient 'Meeter and Greeters' because sometimes even three cannot keep up with the large number of customers entering the office. Something else that isn't thought through...

The point about Senior Managers wanting queues and their experience of other high street retailers perhaps illustrates our problem; they are now working in OUR industry.