UK Post Office rebrands money services
The UK Post Office has launched a new brand for its products as it bids to become one of the UK’s biggest financial services providers by the end of the decade.
It hopes the move will allow customers to easily identify its range of mortgage, current account, savings, travel insurance and foreign currency products and services under the UK Post Office Money brand.
The business currently has three million customers for banking and insurance products and nine million for its foreign currency services.
Since the financial crisis in 2008 the UK Government has encouraged new lenders into the market to challenge the power of the four high street banks – HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays.
In recent years the market has seen the growth of challenger banks such as Virgin Money, Metro Bank and the expansion of financial services from retailers such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer.
The UK Post Office said a survey it commissioned highlights that 30% of customers look for convenient branch locations or a high street presence when choosing a financial provider.
The Post Office runs 11,500 branches – more than all the high street banks combined – and serves 17m customers a week as well as a third of all small businesses. Over 97% of the population live within a mile of a post office.
It adds that an increasing number of its branches are open longer, and more than 2,500 branches open on Sunday.
The UK Post Office said it will announce a range of new competitively rated products over the coming months. It has offered financial services with its partner Bank of Ireland since 2004.
It said the moves are part of its plans to become “one of the leading financial services providers by 2020”.