Bank closures are more common than many people may think. Although it is a trend that has been going on for more than a decade, banks still do not announce to the public every single branch closure. It is alarmist and most people that are not from the area would not care and would only serve to confuse them. That is why it can be easy to miss how many branches are shuttered. For example, Bank of America closed down 132 branches between January and September, more branches than any other major bank in the first nine months of 2024.

Not the only bank to close down branches, the next in line was US Bank with a respectable 101 branches during the same period. While still a lot of closures, it did not reach the Bank of America numbers.

But not all closures mean outright getting rid of branches altogether, according to a Bank of America spokesperson, most of the closings were just part of consolidating efforts, where in places with more branches than necessary, two are merged into one. This still means that users have to travel farther to get their in-person banking needs met, but there is still a branch within reasonable driving distance.

The real problem for customers comes when there are no available branches or ATMs nearby to take care of some of their more pressing needs that cannot be handled by phone or online banking. This is why the more than 700 branches that have closed this year are starting to pose a problem for some areas, which are now becoming banking deserts. According to a Daily Mail analysis, if that rate of closures continues for the rest of this year, slightly more than 1,000 branches will have shut across the country by the new year, and maybe the most worrying figure, at this closure rate the last physical bank branch could close in the US in 2041. Self Financial experts, the ones that calculated the final closure, averaged the closures at 1,646 each year since 2018.

The Bank of America Reasoning for the closures

A spokesperson for Bank of America stated “Our financial center network is core to our business and gives us a strategic advantage. So far this year, we have opened more than 40 financial centers across the country. We routinely adjust where our centers are located, based on foot traffic into each location. Nearly all of the closures in 2024 have been to combine two nearby centers into one, or to move a financial center to a new location to better serve our clients.”

Research does seem to back Bank of America’s strategy, as many people nowadays choose to rely on online banking services to meet their needs more and more every day. Andrew Murray, lead researcher at GOBankingRates told Daily Mail.com concurs with the premise “’Our latest research on the future of banking has shown a growing number of Americans – across all generations – are opting for mobile banking over traditional banking. This all goes to show the clear trend that traditional banking is becoming much less common for Americans of all generations.”

The data is clear, 23 percent of adults 18 to 24 visited a bank just once in the past year, but that still does not mean they want branches eliminated, customers still prefer to use physical branches for particular services like cash deposits or advice on their accounts and stocks. This increases amongst older adults who can still have trouble managing online apps.

In a surprising twist, according to a Self Financial poll, 39 percent of respondents reported that they had more trust in banks with physical branches than those without.

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