Giving the a backup a summer clean, I came across something I’d written back in 2016 but never shared. I'd written it after a frustrating experience at a bank in Hong Kong, where I was stopped from depositing money into an account that wasn’t in my name. The bank got it wrong, eventually apologised, and gave me an umbrella as a gift.

Here it is for your reading pleasure. I've made slight edits but overall, the article is 99% the same.

The year is 2026 and a press conference is about to begin at the bank’s headquarters in Hong Kong. The CEO nervously adjusts his tie next to Counter 10 in the banking hall. Just ten years ago, Counter 10 would have been a hive of activity at this time.

Then, dozens of customers spent their lunch hour queuing up to pay in money, argue about charges, and maybe even rant a bit.

“Watch this”, said the Counter 10 staff member says to her colleague. “See that guy in the front of the queue? He’s been waiting forty minutes to get his passbook updated. Let’s have some fun with him.”

The customer gets to the front of the queue, joy etched on his face. He thinks he’s won the lottery. Just as steps towards the counter, a ready smile playing on his face, the counter staff puts up a sign.

The customer can’t believe it. He reads the sign again, muttering the words to himself. ‘Sorry, the passbook machine is broken. Try tomorrow.”

The counter staff high-five each other as their target has a spectacular meltdown and is led away weeping, his tears dropping on the shiny floor.

The customers in the queue shuffle forwards, seizing the newly vacated space with their feet, eyes cast down, scared to become the next victim. The bank has the power. The queue pretends not to listen to the argument unfolding at Counter 11.

“Why can’t I pay into someone else’s account? I do this every month at another branch. Are you seriously telling me I cannot pay money into this account because it’s not in my name?”.

Back in the queue, customers wait resignedly behind velvet ropes. Special squads regularly catapult out from behind a brown, mock wooden door. Each squad member, or Customer Acquisition Officer, sets out to get account sign ups to the latest marketing ploy. The queue is a target rich environment.

Fast forward five years, and the customer queues have shrunk notably. Fewer and fewer customers come into the bank branch now. Counter staff spend the day reminiscing. The marketing squads have gone. The bank still has the power according to the internal newsletter.

In the Boardroom, the management are blinded by their ability to do no wrong. “The public needs us. We’re a global institution. We’re a revered company. We come top in all the surveys. We’ve been around since the dawn of time. Customers love us. The world cannot exist without us.”

Oblivious to how the market is changing, they stand on their own side line mocking the attempts of their competitors to stay competitive. Watching as their competitors are swallowed up by other banks, sell off assets, collaborate with industry sectors far removed from their own.

“We don’t need that. We know what we’re doing. Why, people need us. We provide security. We give them the power to fulfil their dreams. Of course, we have to charge fees. There’s nothing they can do. Charge, charge, charge!”

Three years later, the bank has just completed a reorganisation, or ‘re-org’ as they term it. Out with the cobwebbed management, in with new age thinkers. The Customer base is whittled away.

They closed branches, turned the once high traffic ones into special centres to entice the millennials. Even this failed; the life-long customers felt betrayed and went away. And new accounts slid off the cliff into the choppy sea below.

Finally, the bank bit the bullet and conducted research that asked the tough questions. One of which was, where did it all go so wrong?

The lead researcher presented to the Board. Each member mentally rubbed their hands; someone was going to get fired and it wasn’t going to be them.

“I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for you. You need to shut the bank. There’s no hope. We’ve traced the exact moments you blinked and your eyes stayed shut.

The Board sat open mouthed with ‘Sorry, what?’ expressions painted on their faces.

“It’s no use. You were to large and unable to move with the times. People began to stop using banks in the early 2000s. Sure, they still need you for some things, but these can easily be delivered by someone else. I mean, just take a look at the telecom service providers today. They’ve stolen your business! You did nothing to stop it!”

“What is this nonsense? We’ve been around for hundreds of years. We know our business.”

“Ah”, said the researcher. “That’s where it went wrong for you. You knew your business but customers are the bosses now. Your customer base has gone and done a collective lemming dive. You’ll never get them back.”

“But where did we go wrong?”

“You had several warnings. The first in a South China Morning Post article in November 2015, entitled "E-payments surge as Chinese cheque out of banks”. The researcher gave the URL. http://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/1884346/e-payments-surge-chinese-cheque-out-banks

“Come on. That’s not a warning.” The bank executive was still in shock.

“Wait. There’s more. Your good friends over at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority made an announcement on 30 August 2016. It was covered in Enterprise Innovation [link is now a 404] with the headline, ‘HKMA announces first wave of e-wallet providers with new SVF licenses’”.

The executive fell silent. They knew he was right. The writing on the wall had been telegraphed almost exactly ten years ago. There was no finger pointing. No blame game. They’d been a proud institution once, but things moved too quickly and now they were being told something they shouldn’t have ignored a decade before