Evening Press leader
Some of Barclays Bank's rural account-holders might today suggest a twist to its omnipresent advertising campaign.
'Because we're big, we can trample over our small customers. Because we're big, we can pay our boss £1.3 million for three months' work. Because we're big, we can treat the resulting furore with total disdain.'
Today Barclays was closing 171 local branches. Bosses justified this move by pointing to the growing trend for telephone and Internet banking. But these new technologies will not appeal to many of the bank's older and most loyal customers, who are only comfortable with personal, face-to-face service. To them, Barclays is unquestionably big: a big bully.
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