Major Banks Shutter Over 40 US Branches in Just Two Weeks

Bank Branch Closures

Major US banks have closed over 40 loca­tions in just a two-week peri­od, the lat­est sign of the indus­try’s ongo­ing shift away from expen­sive brick-and-mor­tar branches.

Chase, Wells Far­go, and San­tander were among the banks that shut­tered branch­es between August 4 and August 18, with Bank of Amer­i­ca lead­ing the way by noti­fy­ing reg­u­la­tors of 12 branch closures.

The clo­sures, which spanned from Cal­i­for­nia to New Jer­sey, were con­firmed to the Office of the Comp­trol­ler of the Cur­ren­cy (OCC), the fed­er­al agency that mon­i­tors bank branch open­ings and closures.

The Shift to Online Banking

Experts attribute this wave of branch con­sol­i­da­tions to the grow­ing pref­er­ence for online and mobile bank­ing among customers. 

A recent sur­vey found that near­ly 70% of cus­tomers between the ages of 25 and 34 pre­fer to do their bank­ing online rather than in a phys­i­cal branch.

“Sur­vey data con­tin­ues to show that online bank­ing is quick­ly becom­ing the stan­dard for how peo­ple bank,” said Andrew Mur­ray, Lead Data Con­tent Researcher at GoBankingRates.

“Most Amer­i­cans find it more con­ve­nient than hav­ing to go into a bank on a lunch hour or ear­ly in the week­ends, and as more adults who grew up with smart­phones enter the mar­ket, its pop­u­lar­i­ty will con­tin­ue to grow.”

The Benefits of Online Banking

While the branch clo­sures may incon­ve­nience some cus­tomers, online bank­ing can offer a range of ben­e­fits, includ­ing low­er fees and high­er inter­est rates on savings.

Jes­si­ca Mor­gan, a finan­cial expert and founder of Cana­di­an Bud­get, advis­es con­sumers to take advan­tage of the sup­port ser­vices many online banks offer to help with the transition.

“Even though mobile bank­ing is con­sid­ered more of a self-ser­vice style, fea­tures like online chat sup­port are fre­quent­ly offered to assist you if you need help,” Mor­gan said.