The overall pace of bank branch closures slowed in 2023, but certain banks still slashed the size of their brick-and-mortar networks substantially.
U.S. banks closed 2,118 branch locations between January and the end of October, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. That was a 19% decrease from the 2,614 branches shut down over the same period in 2022.
Roughly 22% of the closures were carried out by two super-regional banks — PNC Financial Services Group and U.S. Bancorp — both of which shuttered around 10% of their branches.
Across the industry, the total number of branches fell for the 14th straight year in 2023. There were 77,690 active bank branches nationwide at the end of October, according to S&P data, down from 79,000 branches at the end of 2022.
While larger banks top the list of financial institutions that have trimmed their physical presences in 2023, banks big and small are closing branches to reduce expenses and reinvest some of the resulting savings in their digital capabilities.
The appeal of saving on staff, facilities and other branch-related costs has driven merger and acquisition activity in recent years, especially at banks with plenty of branches. After longer-than-usual deal approval processes for many of those deals, some acquirers have finally managed in 2023 to execute planned branch closures.
Here is a closer look at the five banks that closed the largest shares of their branches this year, through October.
