Reading Comprehension

Which of the following is the most relevant in context of “the decline of faith”?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
It is admitted that at a hasty glance, there may certainly seem some danger of our faith in life's value collapsing, together with our belief in God. It is admitted that this is not in the least irrational. But it is contended that a scientific study of the past will show us that these fears are groundless, and will reassure us as to the future. We are referred to a new branch of knowledge, the philosophy of history, and we are assured that this will set all our doubts to rest. This philosophy of history resembles the practical wisdom learnt by the man of the world. As long as a man is inexperienced and new to life, each calamity as it comes to him seems something unique and overwhelming, but as he lives on, suffers more of them, and yet finds that he is not overwhelmed, he learns to reduce them to their right dimensions, and is able, with sufficient self- possession, to let each of them teach some useful lesson to him.
Thus, if we were not better instructed, we might naturally take the present decline of faith to be an unprecedented calamity that was ushering in an eve of darkness and utter ruin. But the philosophy of history puts the whole matter in a different light. It teaches us that the condition of the world in our day, though not normal, is yet by no means peculiar. It points to numerous parallels in former ages, and treats the rise and fall of creeds as regular phenomena in human history, whose causes and recurrence we can distinctly trace. Other nations and races have had creeds, and have lost them; they have thought, as some of us think, that the loss would ruin them: and yet they have not been ruined. Creeds, it is contended, were imaginative, provisional, and mistaken expressions of the underlying and indestructible sense of the nobility of human life. They were artistic, not scientific. A statue of Apollo, for instance, or a picture of the Madonna, were just representations of what men aimed at producing on earth, not of what actually existed in heaven, and if we look back at the greatest civilizations of antiquity, we shall find, it is said, that what gave them vigor and intensity were purely human interests: and though religion may certainly have had some reflex action on life, this action was either merely political or was else injurious.
It is thus that intense Greek life is presented to us, the influence of which is still felt in the world. Its main stimulus we are told was frankly human. It would have lost none of its keenness if its theology had been taken from it. The same holds true now. And there, we see the positive worth of life; we see already realized what we are now growing to realize once more. Christianity, with its supernatural aims and objects, is an ‘episode of disease and delirium;’ it is a confusing dream, from which we are at last awaking.

The author is likely to agree with all of the following, except

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
To the east and west, there are wide stretches of woodland, rounded hill-summits, streams and torrents which pour through the valleys and glens. But towards the south the verdure grows sparse; arid mountain-tops appear, crushed down as blunted cones; the sterility of the desert becomes perceptible amid the wealth of vegetation. This full-foliaged land has its harsh and stern localities. The African light, however, softens all that. The deep green of the oaks and pines runs into waves of warm and ever-altering tints which are a caress and a delight for the eye. A man has it thoroughly brought home to him that he is in a land of the sun.
To say the least, it is a country of strongly marked features which affords the strangest contrast with the surrounding districts. This wooded Numidia, with its flowing brooks, its fields where the cattle graze, differs in the highest degree from the Numidia towards Setif – a wide, desolate plain, where the stubble of the wheat-fields, the sandy steppes, roll away in monotonous undulations to the cloudy barrier of Mount Atlas which closes the horizon. And this rough and melancholy plain in its turn offers a striking contrast with the coast region of Boujeiah and Hippo, which is not unlike the Italian Campania in its mellowness and gaiety. Such clear-cut differences between the various parts of the same province doubtlessly explain the essential peculiarities of the Numidian character. The bishop Augustine, who carried his pastoral cross from one end to the other of this country, and was its acting and thinking soul, may perhaps have owed to it the contrasts and many-sidedness of his own rich nature.

In the passage, the author most likely describes children as “tiny thinking sacks” in order to

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
We have been taught that we are Homo sapiens, the sapient humans. We have also been told that we are the thinking animals, the only ones; the obvious implication being that other animals do not think. We also dare to believe that we are perhaps the finest product of evolution. Such baptism has given rise to a bloated feeling of ascendancy among us. This intellect or cognition enables us to draw inferences from information and come to a conclusion.
Jean Piaget, the Swiss philosopher and child psychologist, went so far as to call children “tiny thinking sacks”. He suggested that children’s cognitive development occurs in four stages. There is the sensory motor stage up to the age of two, when a child experiences the world around him. Then there is the pre-operational stage between the age of 2 and 7 years, when he masters motor skills. It is followed by the third stage the concrete operational one, between the age of 7 and 11. By the age of 11 he develops abstract thinking. In the operational stages, sapience takes hold and develops swiftly. This is also referred to as transitive inference.
There is, however, evidence to suggest that the domain of sapience is definitely not occupied by humans alone, and we might be just a little better off than some other creatures.
Macmillan's Magazine reminisces about a debate about evolution in 1860 between Bishop Wilberforce of Oxford and the naturalist Thomas Huxley. The Bishop, in a mocking tone, asked, “Is it through your grandfather or your grandmother that you claim descent from a monkey?” On this Mr. Huxley, slowly and deliberately replied, “I would not be ashamed to have a monkey for my ancestor; but I would be ashamed to be connected with a man who uses his great gifts to obscure the truth”.
A whole series of facts are now known which reduce the gap between humans and animals. The resemblance between humans and chimpanzees is not only external. In a study, forty years ago, Dr Jane Goodall showed that chimpanzees have traces of cognition which are comparable, at least to our children. Dr. Goodall went on to record their tool making abilities. She noticed that wild chimpanzees hunted, ate meat, resorted to warfare to extend their territory and were even capable of cannibalism. In another instance, Dr. Marc Hauser of Harvard and Thomas Geissman of University of Hanover have found out that, apes can make music – Solo and Coral, with rhythm added. Some researchers have also been able to teach chimpanzees a large number of symbols in the form of hand gestures. Behaviorally, between humans and apes, there are some startling similarities, almost too human to be true. If we look straight into a chimpanzee’s eyes, an intelligent, self-assured personality looks back at us. If they aren’t sapient, how can we be?

The author is most likely to agree with which of the following?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
Here then is a fact that all positive morality presupposes. It presupposes that life by its very nature contains the possibility in it of some one kind of happiness, which is open to all men, and which is better than all others. The proudest, the serenest, the most successful life of vice, must be miserable when compared with the most painful life of virtue, and miserable in a very high degree; for morality is momentous exactly in proportion to the interval between the things to be gained and escaped by it. Now is this “happiness” a reality or is it a myth? That is the great question. Can human life, cut off utterly from every hope beyond itself — can human life supply it? If it cannot, then evidently there can be no morality without religion. But perhaps it can. Perhaps life has greater capacities than we have hitherto given it credit for. Perhaps this happiness may be really close at hand for each of us, and we have only overlooked it hitherto because it was too directly before our eyes. At all events, wherever it is, let it be pointed out to us. It is useless, as we have seen, if not generally presentable. To those who most need it, it is useless until presented. Indeed, until it is presented we are but acting on the maxim of its advocates by refusing to believe in its existence. ‘No simplicity of mind,’ says Professor Clifford, ‘no obscurity of station, can escape the universal duty of questioning all that we believe.’

The author is talking of the happiness that stems from

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
Here then is a fact that all positive morality presupposes. It presupposes that life by its very nature contains the possibility in it of some one kind of happiness, which is open to all men, and which is better than all others. The proudest, the serenest, the most successful life of vice, must be miserable when compared with the most painful life of virtue, and miserable in a very high degree; for morality is momentous exactly in proportion to the interval between the things to be gained and escaped by it. Now is this “happiness” a reality or is it a myth? That is the great question. Can human life, cut off utterly from every hope beyond itself — can human life supply it? If it cannot, then evidently there can be no morality without religion. But perhaps it can. Perhaps life has greater capacities than we have hitherto given it credit for. Perhaps this happiness may be really close at hand for each of us, and we have only overlooked it hitherto because it was too directly before our eyes. At all events, wherever it is, let it be pointed out to us. It is useless, as we have seen, if not generally presentable. To those who most need it, it is useless until presented. Indeed, until it is presented we are but acting on the maxim of its advocates by refusing to believe in its existence. ‘No simplicity of mind,’ says Professor Clifford, ‘no obscurity of station, can escape the universal duty of questioning all that we believe.’

What was the contribution of the Greeks to astronomy in comparison to other cultures?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
We can imagine the respect accorded to the Chaldaean sages who first discovered that eclipses could be predicted, and how the philosophers of Mesopotamia must have sought eagerly for evidence of fresh periodic laws. Certain of the stars, which appeared to wander, and were hence called planets, provided an extended field for these speculations. Among the Chaldaeans and Babylonians the knowledge gradually acquired was probably confined to the priests and utilised mainly for astrological prediction or the fixing of religious observances. Such speculations as were current among them, and also among the Egyptians and others who came to share their knowledge, were almost entirely devoted to mythology, assigning fanciful terrestrial origins to constellations, with occasional controversies as to how the earth is supported in space. The Greeks, too, had an elaborate mythology largely adapted from their neighbors, but they were not satisfied with this, and made persistent attempts to reduce the apparent motions of celestial objects to geometrical laws. Some of the Pythagoreans, if not Pythagoras himself, held that the earth is a sphere, and that the apparent daily revolution of the sun and stars is really due to a motion of the earth, though at first this motion of the earth was not supposed to be one of rotation about an axis. These notions, and also that the planets on the whole move round from west to east with reference to the stars, were made known to a larger circle through the writings of Plato. To Plato moreover is attributed the challenge to astronomers to represent all the motions of the heavenly bodies by uniformly described circles, a challenge generally held responsible for a vast amount of wasted effort, and the postponement, for many centuries, of real progress.

The author cites the example of Thames steamboats in order to

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
But under a system of state socialism, the situation would be wholly changed. Private capitalism is, in this respect, self-acting, and acts with absolute accuracy, because wage-capital being divided into a multitude of independent reservoirs, its waste at any one point brings about its own remedy. Each reservoir is like a mill-pond which automatically begins to dry up whenever its contents are employed in actuating a useless mill; and the man who has wasted his water is able to waste no more. But the moment the divisions between the reservoirs are broken down, and the separate capitals contained in them become, as would be the case under socialism, fused together like the waters of a single lake, the director of labor who so misused any portion of this fluid stock that the products of labor, as directed by him, failed to replace the wages, would not thereby be incapacitated from continuing his misdirection’s further; for the wage-capital dissipated by his incompetence could, under these conditions, always be replaced, and its loss more or less concealed, by fresh supplies which had a really different origin. It was only in consequence of conditions resembling these that the London County Council was enabled to continue for so long its service of Thames steamboats, in spite of the fact that the labor thus employed failed to reproduce, by the functions which it performed for the public, more than a fraction of capital which was necessarily consumed in its maintenance.

What is the passage about?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
Since tires are the contact point of a vehicle with the road, they provide a lot of inputs about the road surface. They are also the final execution point of the driver’s commands to the vehicle. Tire characteristics, not surprisingly, are a hot point of discussion for tire and vehicle manufacturers. The tires are connected to various linkages like springs, dampers, suspension systems and drive train to provide stability and surface adhesion. Not only that, they provide feedback to the driver about directional movement and also about the various forces acting upon the vehicle at a point in time. The forces can range from centrifugal force of going around a sharp curve at high speed, or the level of traction being maintained at that point in time. The suspension of a vehicle, the next link in the chain, is designed to allow the wheels to meet the ever changing requirements of the surface conditions and the other external conjoined factors but, due to a host of other considerations both directly related to the vehicle and otherwise, the end results are often less than ideal. Other influencing factors include body vibration, engine and body noise levels, and side-to-side sway. Upon going over a bump, the un-damped suspension of a vehicle will experience a series of oscillations that will play out according to the natural frequency of the system. Irrespective of however much the noise levels and the vibrations transmitted from the engine, moving parts, wind resistance and the feedback from the surface are damped, the natural frequency of the frame of the vehicle will stay in play.

The passage suggests which of the following about vehicle control? I. Speed and direction of a moving vehicle determine the ride quality. II. Change in centre of gravity resulting from centrifugal force is one of key determinants of road holding abilities. III. Proper dampening can totally eliminate unpleasant vibrations.

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
Since tires are the contact point of a vehicle with the road, they provide a lot of inputs about the road surface. They are also the final execution point of the driver’s commands to the vehicle. Tire characteristics, not surprisingly, are a hot point of discussion for tire and vehicle manufacturers. The tires are connected to various linkages like springs, dampers, suspension systems and drive train to provide stability and surface adhesion. Not only that, they provide feedback to the driver about directional movement and also about the various forces acting upon the vehicle at a point in time. The forces can range from centrifugal force of going around a sharp curve at high speed, or the level of traction being maintained at that point in time. The suspension of a vehicle, the next link in the chain, is designed to allow the wheels to meet the ever changing requirements of the surface conditions and the other external conjoined factors but, due to a host of other considerations both directly related to the vehicle and otherwise, the end results are often less than ideal. Other influencing factors include body vibration, engine and body noise levels, and side-to-side sway. Upon going over a bump, the un-damped suspension of a vehicle will experience a series of oscillations that will play out according to the natural frequency of the system. Irrespective of however much the noise levels and the vibrations transmitted from the engine, moving parts, wind resistance and the feedback from the surface are damped, the natural frequency of the frame of the vehicle will stay in play.

What is the tone of the author?

Directions: Read the following passage and answer the question.
We can imagine the respect accorded to the Chaldaean sages who first discovered that eclipses could be predicted, and how the philosophers of Mesopotamia must have sought eagerly for evidence of fresh periodic laws. Certain of the stars, which appeared to wander, and were hence called planets, provided an extended field for these speculations. Among the Chaldaeans and Babylonians the knowledge gradually acquired was probably confined to the priests and utilised mainly for astrological prediction or the fixing of religious observances. Such speculations as were current among them, and also among the Egyptians and others who came to share their knowledge, were almost entirely devoted to mythology, assigning fanciful terrestrial origins to constellations, with occasional controversies as to how the earth is supported in space. The Greeks, too, had an elaborate mythology largely adapted from their neighbors, but they were not satisfied with this, and made persistent attempts to reduce the apparent motions of celestial objects to geometrical laws. Some of the Pythagoreans, if not Pythagoras himself, held that the earth is a sphere, and that the apparent daily revolution of the sun and stars is really due to a motion of the earth, though at first this motion of the earth was not supposed to be one of rotation about an axis. These notions, and also that the planets on the whole move round from west to east with reference to the stars, were made known to a larger circle through the writings of Plato. To Plato moreover is attributed the challenge to astronomers to represent all the motions of the heavenly bodies by uniformly described circles, a challenge generally held responsible for a vast amount of wasted effort, and the postponement, for many centuries, of real progress.

With the availability of technology channels, it is acknowledged by banks that customers have

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage.

It is likely that banks would put an end to their fixation with traditional way of interacting with customers. In many developed countries, the number of branches and branch usage has declined with the use of new technologies such as ATM (Automated Teller Machine), PTM (Personal Teller Machine) and other electronic channels. Personal Teller Machine uses video to connect to a bank employee in a remote call centre. With the availability of technology channels, banks recognise that customers have wider options in terms of accessing banking services wherever and whenever they desire.

 As a result, banks are attempting to differentiate in terms of superior customer service and the provision of new delivery channels. Alternate channels have impacted the usage of various products. As a result, the contribution of electronic products has increased in non-cash payments and settlement services. The study of non-cash payments like debit cards, online bill payments and automated clearing house payments, indicate that usage of non-cash payments depends on the infrastructure that is in place, end user education and user preferences. Despite the efforts to increase usage of electronic products, even in countries like Germany, 82 per cent of all transactions are still conducted in cash.

At a time when newer forms of electronic payments are present, banks are rediscovering branch networks. Even the pure internet players like ING Direct operate in small number of retail locations from where they can discuss matters with customers. Meanwhile, traditional brick and mortar institutions have invested heavily in digitization and technology. As a result, branch personnel are freed up for sales and advisory services. Banks are also investing in new interior design and interactive technology to encourage customers into branches after pushing them to use remote channels. For example, at Umpqua Bank free Umpqua branded coffee is offered and computer terminals are provided to surf the internet for better customer experience. Employees place a chocolate on a silver tray while presenting a bank receipt. The number of branches of the bank has increased from 5 in 1995 to 155 in 2006. These innovations are likely to make digital merchandising an essential tool for financial institutions. Banks are also learning from other industries like retailers to improve cross selling. Dynamic cubicles are placed in which customers can linger, browse and shop for new products, while employees are trained like retailers by offering on-boarding services. Priority is given to functionality over design, thus offering three methods to reduce waiting time which are central waiting points, queuing system and a decentralized waiting system. The intention is to serve 93 per cent of employees in 5 minutes. Branches have been designed with open plan layouts, touch screen displays, coffee bars and children’s play centres. The scheme has encouraged additional new retail customers to open accounts.

Banks are increasingly resorting to open plan layouts, touch screen displays, coffee bars and children's play centres in order to

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage.

It is likely that banks would put an end to their fixation with traditional way of interacting with customers. In many developed countries, the number of branches and branch usage has declined with the use of new technologies such as ATM (Automated Teller Machine), PTM (Personal Teller Machine) and other electronic channels. Personal Teller Machine uses video to connect to a bank employee in a remote call centre. With the availability of technology channels, banks recognise that customers have wider options in terms of accessing banking services wherever and whenever they desire.

 As a result, banks are attempting to differentiate in terms of superior customer service and the provision of new delivery channels. Alternate channels have impacted the usage of various products. As a result, the contribution of electronic products has increased in non-cash payments and settlement services. The study of non-cash payments like debit cards, online bill payments and automated clearing house payments, indicate that usage of non-cash payments depends on the infrastructure that is in place, end user education and user preferences. Despite the efforts to increase usage of electronic products, even in countries like Germany, 82 per cent of all transactions are still conducted in cash.

At a time when newer forms of electronic payments are present, banks are rediscovering branch networks. Even the pure internet players like ING Direct operate in small number of retail locations from where they can discuss matters with customers. Meanwhile, traditional brick and mortar institutions have invested heavily in digitization and technology. As a result, branch personnel are freed up for sales and advisory services. Banks are also investing in new interior design and interactive technology to encourage customers into branches after pushing them to use remote channels. For example, at Umpqua Bank free Umpqua branded coffee is offered and computer terminals are provided to surf the internet for better customer experience. Employees place a chocolate on a silver tray while presenting a bank receipt. The number of branches of the bank has increased from 5 in 1995 to 155 in 2006. These innovations are likely to make digital merchandising an essential tool for financial institutions. Banks are also learning from other industries like retailers to improve cross selling. Dynamic cubicles are placed in which customers can linger, browse and shop for new products, while employees are trained like retailers by offering on-boarding services. Priority is given to functionality over design, thus offering three methods to reduce waiting time which are central waiting points, queuing system and a decentralized waiting system. The intention is to serve 93 per cent of employees in 5 minutes. Branches have been designed with open plan layouts, touch screen displays, coffee bars and children’s play centres. The scheme has encouraged additional new retail customers to open accounts.

What is the central theme of the passage?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage.

It is likely that banks would put an end to their fixation with traditional way of interacting with customers. In many developed countries, the number of branches and branch usage has declined with the use of new technologies such as ATM (Automated Teller Machine), PTM (Personal Teller Machine) and other electronic channels. Personal Teller Machine uses video to connect to a bank employee in a remote call centre. With the availability of technology channels, banks recognise that customers have wider options in terms of accessing banking services wherever and whenever they desire.

 As a result, banks are attempting to differentiate in terms of superior customer service and the provision of new delivery channels. Alternate channels have impacted the usage of various products. As a result, the contribution of electronic products has increased in non-cash payments and settlement services. The study of non-cash payments like debit cards, online bill payments and automated clearing house payments, indicate that usage of non-cash payments depends on the infrastructure that is in place, end user education and user preferences. Despite the efforts to increase usage of electronic products, even in countries like Germany, 82 per cent of all transactions are still conducted in cash.

At a time when newer forms of electronic payments are present, banks are rediscovering branch networks. Even the pure internet players like ING Direct operate in small number of retail locations from where they can discuss matters with customers. Meanwhile, traditional brick and mortar institutions have invested heavily in digitization and technology. As a result, branch personnel are freed up for sales and advisory services. Banks are also investing in new interior design and interactive technology to encourage customers into branches after pushing them to use remote channels. For example, at Umpqua Bank free Umpqua branded coffee is offered and computer terminals are provided to surf the internet for better customer experience. Employees place a chocolate on a silver tray while presenting a bank receipt. The number of branches of the bank has increased from 5 in 1995 to 155 in 2006. These innovations are likely to make digital merchandising an essential tool for financial institutions. Banks are also learning from other industries like retailers to improve cross selling. Dynamic cubicles are placed in which customers can linger, browse and shop for new products, while employees are trained like retailers by offering on-boarding services. Priority is given to functionality over design, thus offering three methods to reduce waiting time which are central waiting points, queuing system and a decentralized waiting system. The intention is to serve 93 per cent of employees in 5 minutes. Branches have been designed with open plan layouts, touch screen displays, coffee bars and children’s play centres. The scheme has encouraged additional new retail customers to open accounts.

What prompts the author to say, ‘As a result, banks are attempting to differentiate in terms of superior customer service and the provision of new delivery channels’?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage.

It is likely that banks would put an end to their fixation with traditional way of interacting with customers. In many developed countries, the number of branches and branch usage has declined with the use of new technologies such as ATM (Automated Teller Machine), PTM (Personal Teller Machine) and other electronic channels. Personal Teller Machine uses video to connect to a bank employee in a remote call centre. With the availability of technology channels, banks recognise that customers have wider options in terms of accessing banking services wherever and whenever they desire.

 As a result, banks are attempting to differentiate in terms of superior customer service and the provision of new delivery channels. Alternate channels have impacted the usage of various products. As a result, the contribution of electronic products has increased in non-cash payments and settlement services. The study of non-cash payments like debit cards, online bill payments and automated clearing house payments, indicate that usage of non-cash payments depends on the infrastructure that is in place, end user education and user preferences. Despite the efforts to increase usage of electronic products, even in countries like Germany, 82 per cent of all transactions are still conducted in cash.

At a time when newer forms of electronic payments are present, banks are rediscovering branch networks. Even the pure internet players like ING Direct operate in small number of retail locations from where they can discuss matters with customers. Meanwhile, traditional brick and mortar institutions have invested heavily in digitization and technology. As a result, branch personnel are freed up for sales and advisory services. Banks are also investing in new interior design and interactive technology to encourage customers into branches after pushing them to use remote channels. For example, at Umpqua Bank free Umpqua branded coffee is offered and computer terminals are provided to surf the internet for better customer experience. Employees place a chocolate on a silver tray while presenting a bank receipt. The number of branches of the bank has increased from 5 in 1995 to 155 in 2006. These innovations are likely to make digital merchandising an essential tool for financial institutions. Banks are also learning from other industries like retailers to improve cross selling. Dynamic cubicles are placed in which customers can linger, browse and shop for new products, while employees are trained like retailers by offering on-boarding services. Priority is given to functionality over design, thus offering three methods to reduce waiting time which are central waiting points, queuing system and a decentralized waiting system. The intention is to serve 93 per cent of employees in 5 minutes. Branches have been designed with open plan layouts, touch screen displays, coffee bars and children’s play centres. The scheme has encouraged additional new retail customers to open accounts.

The author says, '...banks are rediscovering branch networks.' What is he trying to suggest?

Directions: Answer the given question based on the following passage.

It is likely that banks would put an end to their fixation with traditional way of interacting with customers. In many developed countries, the number of branches and branch usage has declined with the use of new technologies such as ATM (Automated Teller Machine), PTM (Personal Teller Machine) and other electronic channels. Personal Teller Machine uses video to connect to a bank employee in a remote call centre. With the availability of technology channels, banks recognise that customers have wider options in terms of accessing banking services wherever and whenever they desire.

 As a result, banks are attempting to differentiate in terms of superior customer service and the provision of new delivery channels. Alternate channels have impacted the usage of various products. As a result, the contribution of electronic products has increased in non-cash payments and settlement services. The study of non-cash payments like debit cards, online bill payments and automated clearing house payments, indicate that usage of non-cash payments depends on the infrastructure that is in place, end user education and user preferences. Despite the efforts to increase usage of electronic products, even in countries like Germany, 82 per cent of all transactions are still conducted in cash.

At a time when newer forms of electronic payments are present, banks are rediscovering branch networks. Even the pure internet players like ING Direct operate in small number of retail locations from where they can discuss matters with customers. Meanwhile, traditional brick and mortar institutions have invested heavily in digitization and technology. As a result, branch personnel are freed up for sales and advisory services. Banks are also investing in new interior design and interactive technology to encourage customers into branches after pushing them to use remote channels. For example, at Umpqua Bank free Umpqua branded coffee is offered and computer terminals are provided to surf the internet for better customer experience. Employees place a chocolate on a silver tray while presenting a bank receipt. The number of branches of the bank has increased from 5 in 1995 to 155 in 2006. These innovations are likely to make digital merchandising an essential tool for financial institutions. Banks are also learning from other industries like retailers to improve cross selling. Dynamic cubicles are placed in which customers can linger, browse and shop for new products, while employees are trained like retailers by offering on-boarding services. Priority is given to functionality over design, thus offering three methods to reduce waiting time which are central waiting points, queuing system and a decentralized waiting system. The intention is to serve 93 per cent of employees in 5 minutes. Branches have been designed with open plan layouts, touch screen displays, coffee bars and children’s play centres. The scheme has encouraged additional new retail customers to open accounts.