Total bank branch closings/openings, 2006-2016, by region
Midwest, -1,674
Mid-Atlantic, -1,154
Southeast, -460
Northeast, -69
West, -63
Southwest, +408
Total, -3,012
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence
Total bank branch closings/openings, 2006-2016, by year
2006, +2,561
2007, +2,260
2008, +1,116
2009, -607
2010, -1,102
2011, -438
2012, -1,174
2013, -1,406
2014, -1,392
2015, -1,766
2016, -1,154*
* Through Sept. 15, 2016
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence
Banks have been shedding branches like last year’s shoes, but they’re still more fashionable with smaller banks and in some regions than others.
Since 2009, the nation's banks have closed the doors on 8,849 branches, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, a business data service.
The great wave of branch closings began with consolidation and bank failures during and after the Great Recession. But branches have continued to be shut down at an even faster clip in recent years — hitting a peak of 1,766 closings last year — as banks have kept up the cost-cutting and customers have switched to online and mobile banking.
Still, smaller banks — those with less than $1 billion in assets — have been slower to shed branches, S&P noted. Since 2009, those banks have closed 611 branches, less than 3 percent of their current total.
In contrast, larger banks have closed more than 10 percent of their total branches since 2009, according to S&P’s data.
Bank experts say much of the consolidation has resulted because of the increasing popularity of online banking, debit cards and other remote options among customers, especially the under-40 crowd.
But the S&P data also shows some quirky regional differences in how banks are deciding whether to keep or close their branches.
In the western U.S. — ground zero for tech-savvy customers in places like Silicone Valley, Seattle and Boulder — banks have closed only 63 branches in the past decade. Meanwhile, in the Southwest, banks opened 403 new branches over the past decade, according to S&P’s data.
The Midwest had the largest number of branch closings since 2006 — 1,674 — while the Southeast accounted for 460 closings over that period, according to S&P.
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