WHEN did you last visit your bank? The rise of online banking means that using a mobile phone or tablet device has become the most popular way to check balances, transfer cash or pay bills.

It is far cry from the days when cashiers would pull down their closed shutter at 3.30pm, and you could only find your balance by visiting a branch and getting a member of staff to write it on a slip of paper.

High Street banks have risen to the challenge of the internet and are revamping branches and offering customers a wider range of services.

But things are changing fast.

By the end of the decade it is forecast that customers will use their mobile to manage their current account 2.3 billion times – more than internet, branch and telephone banking put together.

The Bank of England yesterday approved a licence for Durham City-based Atom Bank to start trading.

Atom will be Britain’s first digital-only bank, which means it will have no branches, and its transactions will be done via mobile. Anthony Thomson, Atom’s Newcastle-born founder and chairman, says opening branches in 2015 would be like BT putting phone kiosks back on the street. He has a point, but we believe that bricks and mortar branches continue to play a vital role for people who want to speak to a cashier, or don’t have access to a computer.

Atom wants to offer an alternative to traditional lenders, and bring some competition to an industry that has been rocked by scandals, from PPI mis-selling, to banker bonuses.

It also plans to create more than 300 North-East jobs.

If mobile banking is the way forward then it is encouraging to see the North-East play a leading role.