From Bernard Parke A.C.I.B.

Hon Alderman

The three main pillars on which a regulated society was founded were:

The Family Doctor

The Family Solicitor

The Family Bank Manager

So close was this union that these professions were a part of family life giving valued assurance and security to that way of life.

I cannot speak for the first two professions but the family banker seems to have died out with the Captain Mainwaring of Dad’s Army.

Any person can lend money: the trick is to get it back again.

Get it back without giving distress, not only to the customer but to his whole family.

From that policy a trust grew up known to us as ‘Banker Customer Relationship’. Based on what was technically called “The Canons of Lending.”

No doubt banking as we knew it is dead. This came home to me when I asked a young personal banker recently:

“How long have you been in the bank?”

“Two years.”

“What were you doing before you joined the bank?”

“I used to work for an undertaker.“

Perhaps banking is not as we knew it and the time has now come to openly embrace new ideas, and to er… bury the old concepts.

I therefore have no  hesitation in wishing this new Metro Bank every success in Guildford.