Austrian Post and its financial services partner Bawag PSK have opened their 400th joint branchcoming closer to the goal of establishing a nationwide network of around 500 locations in Austria
by the end of 2012 providing a full range of postal and banking services.In mid-October 2010, the Austrian postal operator and the Bawag PSK bank initially announcedthe setup of the new branch network with the nationwide rollout to be completed this year.
As part of this new concept, all Bawag sites function as fully equipped branch banks. Theoutlets with PSK Bank service, which previously provided basic financial services, have beenupgraded and expanded to offer the entire range of Bawag banking services. At the same time, postoffices have been expanded with the complete service portfolio of Bawag PSK.
Whether a post office complements an existing branch bank or the other way around, the newlocations are fully modernised and re-structured featuring state-of-the-art technology and offeringadvantages to all parties involved.
Inside the new offices, the banking and postal areas are separated from each other with redand blue colours respectively. In the yellow postal areas, customers can conduct both postal andbanking transactions at the counters such as sending letters, picking up parcels, buying goods andcarrying out cash transfers. Consultations on banking services take place in the separate bankingarea.
A further advantage of the new branch concept is the creation of a new, large self-servicearea in the entrance areas with account statement printers, transfer scanners and cash machines forsimple handling of daily banking transactions 24/7. In addition, post office boxes are availablefor customers round the clock to drop letters. Thereby, Bawag PSK and Austrian Post offer theircustomers a fully equipped one-stop shop with a complete portfolio of banking and postal services.
The 500 combined locations of Austrian Post and BAWAG PSK are complemented by the PostPartner outlets with the aim to position them as local providers for the main banking and postalservices with 1,300 Post Partner offices operating now. By the end of 2012, the figure will beexpanded to 1,350.
Austrian Post CEO Georg Pölzl said: “Together, we are stronger. Instead of operating twobranch networks in parallel, we use our common structures and offer Austrian citizens additionaladvantages. Whoever goes to the post office also goes to the bank in future, and the other wayaround. Thereby, we expand our product range and strengthen our network sustainably. Our customerswill be able to handle their postal and money transactions at up to 2,000 locations while profitingfrom high-value banking services through competent financial consultants at over 500 locations.”
