Despite Massive Shutterings, Physical Bank Branches Are Not Going Extinct
As digital banking continues to permeate the industry, traditional brick-and-mortar bank branches have experienced a shift.
Consolidations have increased over the last two years while branch openings have decreased. But according to analysts, this does not necessarily mean the demise of the physical bank, CoStar reports.
More than 2,600 branches have been closed across the U.S. so far this year and in the last five years, nearly 7,900 locations have been shuttered, representing an estimated 19.7M SF. JPMorgan Chase has closed the largest number of branches over the past year with 143 terminations, while Wells Fargo and First-Citizens Bank & Trust trail close behind at 138 and 135, respectively.
But despite the number of shutterings and the clear shift to digital, which increased by 12% over the year, branches still have a place in U.S. banking.
At Bank of America, an estimated 80% of sales take place in the brick-and-mortar locations. While mobile use for the bank has increased by 47% in the past year and mobile deposits account for approximately 21% of check deposit transactions at the bank, larger transactions still take place in person and tend to be 10 times the amount that people deposit online, CoStar reports.
This, in addition to sustaining customer satisfaction and loyalty through face-to-face interactions, suggests physical branches will not be going extinct any time soon.
