http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/25/pf/banks-online-mobile-banking/index.html
United States banks have closed more branches in 2012 than in any year since banks have started measuring closures. Bank of America lead the way last year with 256 closures, accounting for a staggering 23% of the total closures. A total of 1,118 branches closed nationwide in 2012 with even more expected in the upcoming year. These numbers are the outcome of many U.S. banks urging their customers to use online banking, and with more technology-savy generations on the way, this may not seem like such a bad idea. Banks are using incentives to attract their customers to online banking, including lower fees for opening up an online checking account. In addition, with the interest rate as low as it is, it has become almost impossible to make any money in low growth areas of the nation. Fortunately for some, community bank branches are not expected to ever vanish entirely. U.S. banks will always keep branches in big cities with large amounts of money. Branches will also stay open in areas where the banks want to establish a presence and stay concentrated in more urban areas of the nation.
Interesting article.
ReplyDeleteThis article is evidence of the technological advances that have been made. The incentives of lower fees will attract more consumers to online banking. I believe our generation and ones to come will use online banking, but older generations of adults will not because they do not feel as comfortable using technology.
Good Article,
ReplyDeleteI believe this could be a small problem for economy though because our economy is largely based on services. Soon the technology will be good enough to do almost everything the banks need it to do electronically, leaving the only jobs to the customer services. Moving this all online would allow the banks to have cheaper operations but will the amount of jobs laid off be worth it?
I agree that if a large portion of these jobs are lost, it could be problematic for the economy as a whole. However, for each individual bank, there is no incentive to keep these jobs and continue paying extra wages when they can be replaced by technology. This presents a difficult dilemma; the lost jobs hurt the economy as a whole, yet the banks would continue to cut them in order to increase efficiency.
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