With all the gadgets, instant payments and mobile functionality, going to a branch sounds so 2012, right?
Yes, unless you are going for something more than just depositing a check.
“People will go a mile for a good advice,” Brian Moynihan, chairman and CEO of Bank of America said at the Goldman Sachs Financial Services conference this morning. “The branch visits are switching from simple transactions to an advice model, and we are watching all that.”
BofA is builiding 200 to 300 new branches each year, Moynihan said, adding that every single one of the existing branches is being refurbished to get “up to the standards.” What those standards are and how they are changing, is difficult to tell. “If you can tell me exactly how the customers are going to behave in the future, I’ll tell you what the branches will be like,” he said. “I’m guessing the number will continue to drift down, and the sizes will change too.”
Overall, the banking giant has been steadily decreasing the number of its physical locations. In the past fours years, BofA went down to 4,500 locations in total, from around 5,500 in 2012. But millions of people still come in on daily basis, with more than 350,000 customers setting up appointments via mobile devices, Moynihan said.
Mobile deposits now comprise 18% of total consumer deposits, up from 16% last quarter, Moynihan said on the bank’s October earnings call.
Addressing the BofA’s strategy on branch structure during the bank’s 3Q16 earnings call in October, the CEO emphasized that the quality of visits has been improving.
We need those branches to receive those [350,000] mobile phone customers, and why are they coming usually [is] for much more important financial transaction to them than handing us a check for deposit. We’re adding branches we didn’t have, we’re closing branches where the utilization isn’t there.