Abbey website to Bank on revamp

The Abbey National Group website will relaunch in early spring 2002 designed by The Bank for a six-figure fee.

Design templates are expected by the end of January, according to Abbey National design services manager Nick Morris.

The redesign of www.abbey national.com will ‘be in line with new technological developments and the fast-changing audience-expectations of a corporate site,’ says The Bank senior designer, Alex McReynolds.

Morris hopes the feel of the new site shows the bank as a ‘warm and blue-chip company’ that has ethical investment and environmental concerns.

Abbey National Group’s strategy is to drive more and more customers and shareholders on-line, however, its site has become difficult to navigate as the bank has expanded its portfolio of products, Morris says. ‘We want to get people to what they want to see as quickly as possible,’ he comments.

The existing site was designed by Precedent in 1998, which also built a bespoke content management system.

Morris says, ‘We want to get the [website] foundations right for the next few years.’

An in-house team is doing navigation and build for the site and a third party may be brought in for some of the functionality.

The Bank was part of a four-way unpaid creative pitch. The consultancy has worked with Abbey National Group since 1994.