Bank branches are still closing at breakneck speed in the US
Institutions like Chase and Wells Fargo closed 76 locations in just six weeks over the summer, per the OCC.
In the 1990s, Bill Gates said, “Banking is necessary, but banks are not.” At the time, this was a radical idea, but in hindsight, the Microsoft founder was onto something.
On Tuesday, an updated report from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency revealed that major US banks closed a total of 74 locations — including Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, which all shuttered 14 branches each — in just the six weeks between July 17 and August 28 this year.
This follows a larger industry trend: according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., following decades of near constant expansion throughout the 20th century, the number of commercial bank branches hit an all-time high of ~83,000 in 2012. Since then, more than 14,000 outposts have been culled, counting less than 69,000 branches in the US last year.
The tables haven’t just turned away from physical tellers; the data also shows that the number of commercial banks has fallen 35% since 2012, as smaller, regional institutions slowly disappear. Approximately 37 major US banking arms available in the 1990s are now consolidated into the “Big Four” — and, just this week, PNC Financial announced plans to buy Colorado-based FirstBank for $4.1 billion.
The decline in branches has occurred alongside the rise of online and mobile banking, with over half of Americans using in-app banking services more than any other method in 2024, per a survey from the American Bankers Association. But, even if some are missing the in-person experience, the banking sector itself isn’t finding a lack of branches a problem: the industry has posted a 15-year run of consistent profits, notching ~$70 billion in net income in the most recent quarter.
