Post Office may rebrand as a bank

The Government is considering transforming the Post Office into a full-service bank, as part of plans to rejuvenate the brand and help prevent a raft of branch closures.
The Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), led by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson, has recommended that the 12,000 Post Office branches extent its provision of financial services.
The so-called ‘People's Bank' would offer the array of financial services usually associated with an inner-city bank, including debit-card facilities, business services and current accounts.
The Post Office currently offers credit cards, personal loans and mortgages through a joint-venture with the Bank of Ireland. BERR did not confirm whether the new financial products would be backed by the UK Government.
National Savings and Investments (NS&I) products, funded by the Treasury, are already available at Post Office branches. The Post Office Savings Bank was founded in 1861 by Prime Minister Viscount Palmerston, only rebranding to National Savings in 1969.
Media reports suggest that Mandelson is keen to push through the Post Office reforms a as make-weight for MPs unhappy at plans to part-privatise parent company Royal Mail.
Parcel couriers TNT and DHL, owned by Dutch group TPG and Deutsche Post respectively, have been linked with bids for a £3bn stake in the business.