U.S. clients still love bank branches

If you build it, they will come — and keep coming.

That’s certainly been the case for U.S. bank branches. Reuters reports that even though the number of Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.-insured banks has fallen by more than 25% since 2009, the number of branches has only dropped by 6%.

Bank executives say few customers have gone fully digital, and that closing branches can harm revenue. “Our customers still want to visit us,” Jonathan Velline, Wells Fargo’s head of ATM and store strategy, told Reuters in an interview. “They’re still coming to our stores and our ATMs at pretty consistent rates.”

Part of the reason, reports Reuters, is that U.S. customers still routinely use cheques and need branches to process them. Read the full story here.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) data shows that Canadians have embraced automated banking more than our neighbours to the south. Canada had 222 ATMs per 100,000 adults in 2014, up from 185 in 2004, while the U.S. had 165 in 2004 (2014 data is not available).

The rise in ATMs corresponds with relatively lower branch counts. In 2014, Canada had only 24 bank branches per 100,000 adults, while the U.S. had 32. The American figure is virtually unchanged from 2004, the last time data was collected (Canada’s 2004 figure was unavailable).

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