A lot of banks close every year, not just sometimes. Banks still don’t tell the public about every office closing, even though this has been happening for more than ten years. It makes people afraid, and most people who aren’t from the area wouldn’t care.
It would just make them more confused. Because of this, it’s simple to forget how many branches are closed. One big bank, Bank of America, shut down 132 locations from January to September. That’s more than any other big bank in the first nine months of 2024.
Not only did that bank close branches, but so did US Bank, which had 101 branches close during the same time period. There were still a lot of closings, but not as many as Bank of America said.
According to a Bank of America spokesperson, not all branch closings mean that branches are no longer open at all. Most of the branch closings were part of attempts to streamline the bank’s operations, which means that places with too many branches are merged into one. This still means that people have to travel farther to do their banking in person, but there is still a branch that is an acceptable drive away.
Customers really have a problem when there aren’t any close branches or ATMs that can help them with some of their most important needs that can’t be met by phone or online banking. This is why the more than 700 stores that have closed this year are becoming a problem in some places, which are now lacking banks.
A study by the Daily Mail says that if this rate of closings keeps up for the rest of the year, a little more than 1,000 branches will have closed across the country by the end of the year.
What’s even scarier is that the last real bank branch could close in the US in 2041 if this rate of closings continues. The experts at Self Financial, who did the final closing math, say that the average number of closings each year since 2018 has been 1,646.
The Bank of America Reasoning for the closures
“Our financial center network is core to our business and gives us a strategic advantage,” a Bank of America spokesperson said. We’ve opened more than 40 banking centers across the country this year so far.
We often change where our centers are placed based on how many people walk by each one. More than half of the centers that have closed in 2024 have been moved or combined with other centers in the area to better serve clients.
More and more people are choosing to use online banking services to meet their needs every day, which seems to support Bank of America’s plan.
Andrew Murray, lead researcher at GOBankingRates, told Daily Mail.com that he agrees with the premise: “Our most recent research on the future of banking has shown that more and more Americans of all ages are choosing mobile banking over traditional banking.” This is all proof of the clear trend that Americans of all ages are using standard banks less and less.
It’s clear that 23% of people aged 18 to 24 have only been to a bank branch once in the past year. However, that doesn’t mean they want them to close; customers still prefer to go to branches for certain services, like depositing cash or getting help with their accounts and stocks. This is worse for older people, who still sometimes have trouble using online apps.
A poll by Self Financial showed an interesting trend: 39% of people said they trusted banks with real branches more than banks without branches.