I recently read an article in USA Today entitled “Will bank branches wither away?” (see article here). Basically the article talked about the evolution of the branch to reflect the shifting consumer priorities and more tech savvy behaviors, and that the growth in branches has far outpaced population growth, among other trends. I agree with the author’s take on the banking landscape.
What I found more interesting, however, were the comments at the end of the article, which to me, seemed to be polarizing, either all in favor of the demise of the branch, or a refusal to accept that things have changed. I believe the author was not advocating one approach over the other, but simply drawing attention to the change itself.
Which leads me to what I fundamentally believe, and how we at Market Insights talk about these issues. Know your market – period.
Every market is different, and there is no one size fits all approach to delivery of banking services. Recognize that banking preferences have indeed changed, and our job is to determine how these changes necessitate a realignment of our delivery channels.
Find a balanced approach and recognize that your mix of branch delivery, mobile banking, ATM availability, and online services may need to be adjusted given changes in your markets. So ask yourself the following questions:
- How has our market changed?
- How will our markets change in the next two years?
- What decisions do we need to make as a result of these changes?
The bottom line is that we have an economy built on choice, and we are a multi segmented society and we will continue to use multiple channels to access our financial lives.