PS: I know they aren't 'free' calls, they're inclusive. I just didn't have space in the subject to put inclusive!

Metro Bank is (as far as I'm aware) the first bank in the UK to use 03 numbers for customer services (see https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/Supple/Contact-us-/) and also prominently display their 020 number for international callers (or those in the UK that prefer to call that).

Will they start a new trend perhaps?

Am honestly amazed, here's hoping.

An interesting development - well spotted.

We wait to see what radical developments in retail banking are to come in the next few months. Having an influential player that has picked up on the use of 03 numbers must be good for 03. We now have an aggressive commercial user likely to put some effort into stressing the benefits of 03.

The relatively modest growth plans for Metro could be abandoned if the big boys are forced to divest themselves of retail assets, or if Metro is faced with similar retail specialist competitors. Let us hope that customers are not always asked "do you want fries with that?" and instructed to "have a nice day".

Aren't they Americans?  Most fo their CS numbers are toll free so 03 numbers are expsnive by that standard.

According to that all knowledgeable source... Wikipedia... yes, one of the founders is American.

Heinz wrote on Jul 29^th, 2010 at 11:30pm:

Aren't they Americans?  Most fo their CS numbers are toll free so 03 numbers are expsnive by that standard.

The MetroBank model is of local retail banking. In the US each branch has a local number, which by definition is "toll-free" for its customers.

The UK telephone network is different. Because "local" calls are charged, the concept of "toll free" does not exist in the same way.

The two UK branches share the same non-geographic telephone number, which seems a little odd. "03" offers what is probably the cheapest all round option, even though 0845 or 080 would be cheaper for some customers.

Google reveals that they did indeed start off with 0845 08 08 500, but obviously decided to switch before the launch. (The Google cache reveals that the FSA register entry was changed at some point after 4 June.)

I wonder if they caught wind of what Ofcom is planning to do!

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Jul 30^th, 2010 at 8:57am:

I wonder if they caught wind of what Ofcom is planning to do!

What's Ofcom planning to do now? Nothing that will benefit the consumer, surely(!!)  ::)

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Jul 29^th, 2010 at 7:45pm:

An interesting development - well spotted. We wait to see what radical developments in retail banking are to come in the next few months. Having an influential player that has picked up on the use of 03 numbers must be good for 03. We now have an aggressive commercial user likely to put some effort into stressing the benefits of 03. The relatively modest growth plans for Metro could be abandoned if the big boys are forced to divest themselves of retail assets, or if Metro is faced with similar retail specialist competitors. Let us hope that customers are not always asked "do you want fries with that?" and instructed to "have a nice day".

They only have one branch, and that, (plus the others they may eventually set up), is in London, so not much use as "an influential player ".
According to Working Lunch yesterday, you also need to actually go into the branch to open the account, the "big boys" won't be worried!

To quickly answer the two recent points in response to my contributions:

- Ofcom is expected to make some significant announcement about the future of 0845 in October. The likely removal of the requirement that makes BT charge less than the cost of calls to 01/02/03 numbers may be seen as not being to the benefit of consumers.

- The government will be announcing changes to the banking system once the current review is completed. An enforced separation between retail and "casino" banking is widely expected. Although Metrobank is small at present, it is seen to perhaps set the model for the future.