Citizens, Bank of America and Capital One wipe out dozens of locations in just ONE week as they become latest victims of the ‘bank branch bloodbath’

Citizens, Bank of America, Capital One and Wells Fargo were among the US banks to close a total of 47 branches around the country last week.

Banks this year are continuing to shut costly brick-and-mortar locations as the industry increasingly favors online banking.

Citizens Bank filed to close 17 branches in the second week of January, according to a bulletin published on Friday by its regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC).

Those closures are scheduled in Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania. It is a continuation of the bank’s strategy last year, during which it notified the OCC of more than 80 closures.

Citizens Bank led the pack in terms of bank branch closures in the second week of January. It notified the OCC of plans to shutter 17 locations. Pictured is a branch in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Bank of America indicated it would shut 11 branches throughout the Southeast and Southwest. Pictured is a branch in SoHo in New York City

And Bank of America indicated it would shut 11 branches throughout the Southeast and Southwest that week.

It too has a strong record of closing in-person banking locations. Last year it shuttered 157 and only opened 34.

Capital One said it would shut four branches – all of which were in New York State.

A smattering of other banks said they would close branches. They were Wells Fargo, Huntington National Bank, Landmark National Bank, First Federal Savings & Loan, and Pikes Peak National Bank.

Though Huntington closed one branch it said it would open three branches – two in Colorado and one in North Carolina.

Chase continued its trend of opening more branches than it closes. In 2023, it closed 157 but opened 195.

Last week it did not file for any closures and said it would open two branches – in Tennessee and California.

The number of bank branches in the US peaked at over 85,000 in around 2011. Over the last 10, years it has shrunk by approximately 13,000, according to a combination of data from the FDIC and the OCC. 

Capital One said it would close four branches in the US. Pictured is a location in Union Square in New York City

Dozens of banks filed notices to close a total of 1,566 branches in 2023, according to data from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Red markers indicate closures; green markers are openings

The Covid pandemic catalyzed the already-rapid uptake of online banking and although 2020 saw the sharpest decline in the number of branches, closures have continued.

‘The trend for the future is more consolidation of branch locations but branches are not going away,’ Greg McBride, chief financial analyst for Bankrate.com, told DailyMail.com last week.

‘There are still going to be to bank operations, as a center for consultation or as a sales floor, but they are used less and less for routine transactions, which are increasingly done digitally,’ he said.

According to a DailyMail.com analysis of OCC data, banks last year closed branches in California and the Midwest faster than anywhere else.

Dozens filed notices to close a total of 1,566 branches. In contrast, they only notified the regulator of plans to open 472.