By Gabriel Chen

INNOVATION may not be instantly associated with a bank founded in 1877 and known for its no-frills dependable style of community banking, but POSB has now jazzed up some of its branches.

The bank, known as 'The People's Bank', has set up four new-style branches with no tellers where customers use only machines, supported by two staff members at each branch.

The strategy is twofold, according to parent DBS Group Holdings. First, meeting customer demand, and second, 're-energising' the POSB brand.

Many POSB customers - including the elderly - still use passbooks and not statement-based or online savings accounts to manage their finances. So the new branches allow people to withdraw cash from machines using their passbooks, with staff assistance.

These new branches are part of the 'relaunching' POSB strategy mooted by DBS chief executive Richard Stanley last year, when he talked about how DBS had 'disappointed Singaporeans' and mentioned plans to turn POSB around.

POSB, with more than 50 branches, has launched the new concept at four branches: Rivervale Drive, Yishun Street 22, Eunos Crescent and Toa Payoh Lorong 1.

The new branches are smaller than the older ones. Conspicuously missing are the tellers at the counters. Instead, four machines meet customers' banking needs.

One machine lets them deposit cash without a passbook or ATM card; all users need to do is key in the designated account number.

The second machine lets a customer deposit cheques and then issues a receipt.

Another machine lets customers withdraw cash using a passbook. But a POSB staff member has to first verify the customer's identification details, and punch in a code into the machine.

There is also an AXS station that lets customers pay bills and fines.

Customers can also apply for credit cards, housing loans, and investment and insurance services at the new branches, which are open seven days a week: 8.30am to 8.30pm on weekdays, and 8.30am to 3pm on weekends.

'It's not about cutting costs and people,' said Mr Rajan Raju, head of consumer banking at DBS, who declined to disclose set-up costs or say how many new branches he wants to add in future. 'It's about convenience to our customers.'

Sunday banking is not new. OCBC Bank introduced full-service Sunday banking in 2006.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on February 03, 2009.