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- Scroll down for a searchable table of addresses of all closings this year
Banks closed 539 local branches across the country in the first half of the year — leaving more and more Americans without access to basic financial services.
If the rate continues for the rest of 2024, it will mean more than 1,000 branches will be wiped out from shopping malls and town and city centres.
Bank of America closed most of its branches, a total of 90 in just six months.
US Bank also made significant closings, closing 73 of their locations in the same period. Wells Fargo closed 62, Chase 53 and TD Bank 52. Scroll down for the full searchable list of addresses.
The closings, which banks must report to federal regulators, represent a trend as big banks move away from expensive brick-and-mortar branches in favor of online services.
American banks closed 539 branches in the first six months of the year
“Most Americans, from Gen Z to boomers, have less need for a traditional bank, which may explain the increase in the number of brick-and-mortar branches that have closed over the past year,” said Andrew Murray, principal data scientist. on GOBankingRates for DailyMail. com.
A recent survey by GOBankingRates found that even retirees prefer online banking over branch services.
Overall, 78 percent of Americans prefer using mobile and online banking, and nearly one in four have not visited their bank in the past year.
“Our survey of more than 1,000 adults clearly shows that demand for personal banking is low across all generations, even those turning 65 and older,” Murray explained.
“It’s likely that overhead costs (rent, maintenance, supplies and staff wages) are a big factor especially given that our survey shows how rarely people visit brick and mortar banks.”
Indeed, the closures could lead to significant savings since the average independent bank branch costs about $2.6 million a year to operate.
Banks must report all planned closings and openings to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), a federal banking regulator.
Every week, he publishes a summary of them. DailyMail.com analyzed these to compile details of total closures so far this year.
The hardest hit state was California which saw 72 closures by national banks in the first half of the year.
New York followed in second place, seeing 51 shutdowns, followed by Pennsylvania, which had 40.
“Over the past several years, we have gotten our branch network right and we can continue to combine two existing older branches into a better location,” Wells Fargo told DailyMail.com in a statement.
“Doing so does not detract from the importance of our customers and the communities we serve.”
Bank of America also said they tend to consolidate two branches into one when there is a closing.
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“These changes to our branch network reflect that, increasingly, our customers are using digital banking for their everyday financial needs and coming to financial centers for more important needs or to talk about their finances,” the corporation explained.
The US bank also cited the migration of customers to online banking and the ‘desire for greater simplicity’ as reasons for their mass closures.
“As we evolve alongside our customers, we are reevaluating our physical footprint and, in some cases, consolidating branch locations in select markets,” the bank said in a statement.