Banking on Pods – Societe Generale

In 2022, KB – a subsidiary of Societe Generale – worked with Reaktor to create a completely user-centric redesign of their bank branches. Now, dozens of branches are furnished with Framery pods and packed with technologies designed to bring the mobility of internet banking into a traditional setting.

Komerční Banka (KB) is one of the largest banks in Czech Republic – and a subsidiary of European financial leader Societe Generale – with 216 branches and over 7,500 employees nationwide.

The way people bank has completely changed; online banking is now most people’s preferred way of managing their money which means traditional forms must adapt. Feeling that today’s bank should be designed in a way which encourages people to visit, meet with a partner (not a banker) or even feel inspired to learn new financial knowledge, Jakub Heidler, motivator and visionary at Studio Reaktor chose Framery and its pods as the key to creating a whole new concept and approach to modern banking.

Reaktor focused the design around on three key elements: wanting the people to come first, ensuring each area has a purpose and maintaining that crucial element of privacy.

Reaktor focused on how to focus on and encourage empathic communication where clients sit next to their banking partner – rather than looking at the back of their computer monitor from across a desk. By integrating Framery pods, the designers could remove high walls and closed-off rooms, creating an open and welcoming atmosphere.

Looking at the areas a modern bank requires, Reaktor divided space into zones helps improve the customer experience. The branch layout is structured into specific zones, each with its own function and focal point. Reaktor Architects used strategically placed Framery pods as room dividers, separating the office workstations from customer spaces without compromising the atmosphere.

Finally, knowing how important providing privacy is within a modern banking setting, Framery Q and Framery 2Q pods were installed to provide a space for customers and banking partners to meet face-to-face in private, without being sequestered in a small room down the hall.

In addition to seeing 95% of visitors have positive feedback about the redesign of the branches, the soundproof booths installed in the branch are used often. Previously absent from the industry, mobile pods and meeting rooms are a sustainable way to enhance the bank branch, as there are no resources wasted on remodeling, reconstructing, or recertifying. They can easily be reorganized or moved from one branch to another, making them more cost-effective than new construction.

This design project has proven that it is possible to re-think old, stoic industries. And using Framery can help to bring them into the modern age. Heidler is motivated to “push the limits and present Framery as magic boxes that can change the mindsets of stoned industries.”