Once again, Chase is flagging up its belief in the physical branch. Specifically, it is to hire another 1,100 retail banking employees, renovate another 600 outlets and open 160 new branches. It is on track to meet a goal of adding more than 10,500 consumer bank staff by the end of the year.
The Chase branch strategy is often dated back to around 2024, when it announced plans to add more than 500 branches by 2027. The policy however dates back to the period following the financial crisis in 2008-2009.
Yes, Chase continues to grow its branch presence in fast‑growing regions in the Northeast, Southeast, Heartland and Southwest.
But it has also been closing under-performing branches and shrewdly consolidating branches where it is over-represented.
Back in 2009, Chase ranked a distant third among US banks as ranked by branches with 5,229 outlets. Today, that figure has only inched down to around 4,993. The Chase branch network peaked in 2013 at 5,694 branches.
By contrast, the Wells Fargo branch network peaked in 2009 as it combined 3,429 Wells branches with 3,338 units acquired from Wachovia. From a high of 6,767 Wells Fargo branches in 2009, the number has dropped to 4,214 branches today.
Bank of America’s branch network peaked, also in 2009, at 6,238. That number has fallen to around 3,640 today.
So, the Chase network since 2009 is down by a mere 236 outlets or just 4.5%. The Bank of America branch network is down by 2,598 outlets or by almost 42%. And Wells Fargo is down by 2,553 outlets over the same period, or some 38%.
As for how the branch network boosts deposits market share, well that is an argument for another day. Suffice to say that Chase ranked third by domestic deposits as recently as 2013 behind Bank of America and Wells Fargo. Chase became the largest US bank by deposits in 2020, when it overtook Bank of America. It has maintained its position as largest bank by that measure every year since 2020.
Just two weeks ago in the column I noted how in the UK, the Nationwide had almost doubled its current account market share since 2013. All at the same time, maintaining its branch network and now ranking as the largest brand in the UK as ranked by branches.
Overall, across the sector in the US, branch numbers continue to drop but the rate of closure is almost pedestrian compared to the UK and much of Europe.
US bank branch numbers peaked in 2009 at 99,550. That number has dropped to around 74,000 today. With 74,000 branches serving a US population of 341 million, there is a branch density of 21.7 branches per 100,000 people. The comparable figure in the UK is less than one-third of the US figure. Total UK bank branches are down to around 4,600. With a population of 69 million, the UK branch density is about 6.6 branches per 100,000 people.
