UBS plans to close 44 branch offices. No details on which ones are being closed but it seems that there will be quite a few job losses.


https://www.nzz.ch/meinung/ubs-filia...ten-ld.1595994


https://insideparadeplatz.ch/2021/01...obs-auf-kippe/


Sorry, I could not find any English language link.

Our local branch already has- got to go down to Neuchâtel. Only ATMs opened still.

i'm never really sure who uses bank branches anyway. they always seem empty whenever i go in to use an ATM and any banking business I tend to conduct by email.

UBS branch in Bern near the station is always busy with queues. Zug has a huge branch where ther is rarely anyone.

Much nicer to go and have a chat with your local Manager, who knows you and your circumstances - truly. And with a cup of decent coffee and biscuits.

I'm all for internet banking, anyway.....

• Opened my account in a branch.
• Got first salary from a cashier because the card had not arrived home yet by post.
• Signed the internet banking contract.
• Asked for a credit card.
• Got asked to visit a branch to show valid residence permit so my account stays open.
• Sign the papers for the rentals deposit (in & out).

Nicer for you, but more expensive for the bank and requested by fewer and fewer clients, which is why more and more branches are being closed.

I would far rather deal with 99% of things in the app or website and if I have a problem email or call my RM. Far more time efficient for me. I realise that some people have more time than others though.

I went it to open my accounts and to sort out my mortgage...... other than that e-banking or I email my client manager directly (way more helpful than British banks where you can't contact your branch at all anymore it seems).

in fairness you could have done all those by post or online too.

my mortgage has always been 100% dealt with by email with CS in a different canton.

Well yes- I am an old biddie- and I do not want our small towns and villages to lose their POs, banks, local shops, butcher's, baker's, pharmacies, and for everything to be bought on line. Ghost towns, dormitory villages without souls- and older people left bereft in isolation.

For your generation maybe. I want to do things fast, and have no fees. As such, I bank with a mobile only provider who doesn't charge me for banking. Being a Brit the idea of paying to have a bank account is completely alien (unless it comes with premium features like insurance or airline lounge access).

I think there's going to be an international market for biddy banking, where you can go in and spend all queuing and gossiping to your heart's content and do everything the good old fashioned way and not have to use this new fangled internet malarky! Each to their own

don´t they have some kind of video identification app?

Even you will be old one day no-one escapes.

UBS have closed branches, but not stopped the fees!

No shops, no independent shops for sure, no POs or banks - people who do not know their neighbours and don't talk to them, no community spirit. You have it- each to their own, as you say. But it would be nice to have a choice- and that choice is taken away.

They always try to hard sell me their useless "fonds" whenever I go to the bank in person, therefore I try to avoid personal contact as much as possible!

I think its important to keep abrest of technological changes. My grandfather (who would have been about 90 now were he still alive) wasn't able to use cashpoints.

They must have been around forever - when he wasn't that old.

Even my dad managed it, and he was born in 1912.

Yes, important to keep up with technological changes - I certainly do. But lose communities, friends, neighbours, and other associations- I am entitled to find it sad and just not necessary. One does not prevent the other. At least in Switzerland, older people and others can always rely on decent local public transport- unlike those in the UK who are totally stranded.

It’s 25 years since I saw a real bank manager. I asked him why the bank was so sorry busy that day. It was the end of the month.

He explained that his elderly customers came in with their bills and withdrew the cash to cover them, then proceeded to cross the road to the Post Office to pay the bills with cash.

That generation has passed away and I’m happy to only see the inside of my bank to sign a piece of paper from the UK pensions outfit to confirm that i am still alive. Hopefully that too will be done online soon...

__________________

Fed up of smoking? 10 tips to quit in 10 days

Not just older people who need that - neither me nor my wife can drive. I have a licence but haven't driven since passing my test.

UK is very variable. Some cities (e.g. Bristol) have non-existent public transport. but its very good in my home city (Newcastle).

Not UBS, at least not the last time I had to go.


I see this is a thing now https://www.ubs.com/minisites/ubs-co...bswelcome.html