By Nancy Feig
There are no secrets at the branch of the future. As soon as customers step through your door, you’ll know they’re there. You’ll know what accounts they hold and how much is in them. You’ll know the depth of their pupils and the ridges of their fingertips.

I learned all of this in a run-through of Accenture’s bank of the future a few days ago. When I attended Accenture’s High Performance Banking Showcase on Tuesday, I was intrigued. The innovations that I saw were, for lack of a better word, “cool.” A pen that captures form information and enters it into the system? Neat. A tablet that can allow the customer service rep to bring the CRM system around the bank straight to the customer? Convenient.

There’s no doubt that I saw some pretty interesting things in Accenture’s mock bank. Apparently, some banks are already using these innovations. Maybe my bank is too—I wouldn’t know though, because I’m never there.

Does anyone go to the branch anymore? Accenture and industry experts all say yes. And I’m sure they do. But are these the same people who are going to be excited about a digital pen and biometric finger scans? I’m not sure. The last time I was in a branch to get cash (because I lost my debit card—again) every eye in the place was glued to the CNN report on Anna Nicole Smith’s will.

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