Lloyds TSB says Witajcie to Polish customers

From today, new arrivals to the UK from Poland will find opening a current account with Lloyds TSB easier than ever before.

To make customers feel at home, Lloyds TSB is providing its staff with account opening forms in Polish and Polish language brochures in the Bank’s top 130 Polish serving branches to help customers better understand the account features and account opening process. The bank is also looking to recruit more Polish speaking staff into its branches to increase its number of fluent Polish speakers on the front line.

Lloyds TSB has also simplified its identification requirements so new customers may only need one form of photo identification, such as passport or EU identity card, to open a current account. This is particularly advantageous for customers who are new to the country and might not have identification in the form of utility bills, for example. Previously the bank required two forms of identification to open an account.

As part of the launch of this new service, Lloyds TSB interviewed over 1000 Poles who are considering moving to the UK asking them about their concerns. Almost a quarter (21 per cent) said that sorting out their finances was their biggest concern. And 23 per cent were worried about the complexity of the account opening process.

The research also highlighted a clear demand for extra support to help simplify the account opening process. Over 80 per cent want account opening forms in Polish and eight out of ten said that they would be more attracted to a bank account which was tailored to their needs.

Since Poland joined the European Union in 2004, approximately 265,000 Poles have applied to the work in the UK, which accounts for nearly two thirds (62 per cent) of the total number of applications from the ‘accession 8’: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Lloyds TSB’s Classic account and Select accounts are already proving to be a popular choice for the Polish community, with a large volume of Lloyds TSB’s new current account customers coming from Poland.

Gerrard Schmid, Lloyds TSB Transaction Banking Director, said: “The face of the UK workforce is changing and the Polish community is playing an increasingly important role. Our research revealed that a staggering 50 per cent of the Poles we interviewed are planning to move over to the UK in the next 12 months, with over 80 per cent of these new arrivals planning to open a bank account. This is clearly a fast growing community, filling essential gaps in the labour market. Their prospects are bright and they need a bank account which is going to support them throughout their time in the UK.

“We are working closely with the Polish community to understand their needs. In addition, we are adapting our procedures to make sure that the account opening process is as straightforward as possible for all our customers. Next year we will be launching a number of new services designed especially to meet the growing needs of this community.”