Australia is famous for its abundance of animals found nowhere else in the world, including the kangaroo, koala, platypus, emu and wombat.

During the last stop on our around-the-world tour we discovered that it also is home to some unique concepts in branch banking.

In Sydney, for example, wherever we went, we saw brightly colored VW Beetles sporting the logo of a major bank. The vehicles were driven by mobile sales specialists who visit consumers in their homes to pitch mortgages, car loans and other personal secured loans.

Our first stop was a branch of one of the top five banks in the country. This branch was one of the largest and busiest we have ever seen. At least 25 people worked in the office and there must have been about 30 customers in the building when we were there. What was particularly interesting was how the bank managed customer expectations with respect to the wait time to see a teller or a personal banker. Upon entering the branch, customers obtain a ‘token’ from a dispensing device located near the entrance that assigns them a spot in line. The customer is then free to sit in the large waiting area (which must have had about 30 - 40 chairs) to wait their turn. An LCD monitor hanging from the ceiling displays each customer’s place in the queue.

Interestingly, the bank’s premium customers are bumped up in the queue ahead of mass-market customers. We thought this is a concept that U.S. banks should experiment with.

We heard repeatedly from individuals, including our Spanish colleagues, that people generally have a very little trust in their financial institutions. In fact, evidently people trust their supermarket more than they do their bank.

Some of the savings banks in Spain are addressing this lack of trust by creating customer 'charters' outlining the bank's customer service commitments. One bank in particular, whose motto is "If you're not happy, we're not happy", has issued a 'commitment' with 17 different points, each of which entails a financial penalty if the bank fails to meet the commitment. For example, Commitment #9 states the bank will respond to formally submitted customer complaints within two business days. For each day of delay, the bank would reimburse the customer 5 euros, up to a maximum of 50 euros.

While it was difficult to find bank branches to visit in Amsterdam, it certainly wasn't a problem in Madrid. We went to the San Francisco de Sales neighborhood over lunchtime and counted nine branches in a half block radius alone!

As we came to learn over our two-day visit, the Spaniards love their branches. In fact, branch density in Madrid is more than four times greater than it is in Chicago and New York. However, you better not need to use the branch after your late Spanish lunch because you would be hard-pressed to find a branch open. All of the branches we saw closed at 2:00 or 2:15 p.m.

We started our day in the central city area walking around looking for branches to visit. What a challenge that turned out to be- we had read about how the Dutch were active users of self-service channels, but still expected to see branches on every block like we've seen in London and large U.S. cities. It was even hard to find an ATM!

The first branch we visited was actually in a post office. It wasn't a branch in the same sense as what we're accustomed to seeing in the U.S. Instead, it consisted of a small counter (that wasn't very well marked) at the back of the building where people could get information on financial products and services and open new accounts. Surrounding the branch space was a number of merchandising displays with brochures on financial products. The only place where customers could perform transactions was at the ATM near the branch.

Our first branch visit in London was to an old-style private bank that has been serving wealthy clients since the late 1600s. Upon entering the building, we met their facilities manager, who proceeded to tell us about the history of the bank and gave us a book on the institution. There was an imposing teller area lined with gold trim and a bunch of bank staff huddled over their computers in an area not accessible to customers. It felt more like a library than a bank branch.

But a short taxi ride away, were branches firmly rooted in the 21st century, designed to minimize human contact and get customers to use lower-cost channels. 

How are banks around the world maximizing the value of bank branch networks, strengthening customer loyalty, and differentiating value propositions in their chosen markets?

My colleague, Chris Gill, and I took a two-week tour to London, Amsterdam, Madrid, Dubai and Sydney to visit both banks and retailers, looking at branching strategy.

In London signs in the window a branch of one of the world’s largest retail banks touted offers identical to those I would find in Manhattan or Des Moines, like no fees in any transactions and “extended banking hours.” I thought to myself do these value propositions actually drive customer loyalty? Are they the best offers to differentiate a branch in the U.K.?

Scott Burgess and Chris Gill of Deloitte Consulting, in an effort supported by the Deloitte Center for Banking Solutions, traveled to cities in Europe, the Middle East, and Australia to see how banks there differ in their retail strategies. American Banker will post a series of seven installments documenting their experiences.