Major U.S. banks like Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo are rapidly closing branches.
These banking giants have closed around 145 branches in just five weeks, and more closures may follow. The financial institutions informed the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) about their intended closures scheduled from February 7 to March 14.
Flagstar Bank leads the list of banks scheduled for closure, with 44 branches, while TD Bank follows with 38 locations. Bank of America, which experienced the highest number of branch closures in 2024, totaling 168, announced plans to shut down nine locations from February 7 to March 14.
Chase also filed a notice for nine closures during the same five-week period. Closures followed shutdowns from January 12 to February 6, during which US Bank, Wells Fargo, and PNC informed the OCC of 107 planned closures.
The wave of closures is anticipated to escalate in 2025, resulting in an additional 4.11% decrease by the end of the year.
"Retail bank closures in the US aren't slowing, and our research shows that the last time this many people relied on a local bank branch was in 1995," said digital marketing expert Darren Kingman.
The ongoing trend of bank branches shutting down nationwide has worsened due to the pandemic. According to The Sun, in 2023, the US saw the highest number of bank failures since the 2008 recession.
In the third quarter of 2024, US bank branch closures hit their highest quarterly level since the first quarter of 2022, totaling 439 net closures. In the first nine months of 2024, 944 net branches were closed.
Experts have warned that the significant decrease in bank branch numbers could have far-reaching effects on those who depend on physical bank locations.
The closure of these branches can particularly affect elderly customers, who may have greater difficulty using online and mobile banking services. Research also shows that the mass shutdowns disproportionately affect banking customers with low incomes, disabilities, or racially diverse backgrounds.
According to Self Financial, physical banks may become obsolete, with the last brick-and-mortar bank potentially closing as early as 2041.
