What Became of the Bank Manager?

Clive Anderson, whose father was a bank manager, investigates the demise of the traditional face of our high street banks.

For decades these reliable Captain Mainwarings kept our money safe, were prominent in the Rotary Club and made it their business to know every detail of the local economy. Yet over the years they were gradually phased out, as cash machines and credit cards changed banking for ever, and their risk-averse DNA stood at odds with the desire to sell, sell, sell.

Clive goes in search of the reasons why his father's profession no longer exists, and asks how this change reflects on today's consumer society and the banking industry's rush to lend money.

Interviewees include Duncan Bannatyne, multi-millionaire of Dragon's Den fame, whose branch bank manager set him on the road to a fortune; Sid Brittin, a former old-style Lloyds bank manager, who describes how he had a nervous breakdown under the pressure to meet new targets; John Hackett, HSBC's Chief Operating Officer of Retail, who says that banks are now far more responsive to their customers' needs.

A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4.