New research shows the last physical bank branch could close within a few years.
According to an ECB report, the last physical bank could close as early as 2041. new report from Self Financial.
This date was determined by researching the number of net closures across the country. Since 2018, this number has averaged 1,646 per year.
Dailymail.com reported on the alarming number of closures and provided the locations of the weekly closures reported to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Scroll down for the full list of our 2024 coverage.
In the first half of 2024 alone, major banks closed 539 local branches, leaving more Americans without access to basic financial services.
Physical bank branches in the US could be gone by 2041, according to a new report
While most Americans choose to do the majority of their banking online, customers still prefer physical branches for certain services.
It is also difficult for some older customers to use services such as mobile banking.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans still use a physical branch to deposit money, while more than half of them use a physical branch to speak with a personal advisor, the report found.
39 percent of respondents told Self Financial that they trust banks with physical locations more than banks without.
Despite this, the report found that more establishments have closed than opened since 2012, leaving Americans with a net loss of these essential services.
Between 2012 and 2022, the latest year for which data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation are available, the number of bank branches fell from 82,461 to 69,590.
Moreover, the trend has increased rapidly since the pandemic as more and more services were forced to adopt online services.
In addition, the bank’s overhead costs increased significantly, such as rent for physical branches, electricity costs and rising wages for staff.
The consequences of this can be seen in the dramatic number of 2,442 branches that closed between 2021 and 2022 alone.
Closures mean that more and more people are dependent on declining physical services.
The number of banks has decreased every year in the country since 2012
Nearly two-thirds of Americans still use a physical branch for certain services
In 2022, all branches in the country had to serve 4,715 people, the highest number since 1995.
California is the state that has been hit the hardest, losing a net of 1,114 branches over the past decade. The report shows that the state is the first to lose physical bank branches.
Analysis by Dailymail.com shows that California has also been hit the hardest so far in 2024, given 72 national bank closures in the first half of the year.
The Golden State was closely followed by Florida, which lost 1,091 banks over the past decade, and Illinois, which lost 858.