CHARLOTTE, N.C.-Credit unions may have an opportunity to grab retail share in some markets with news from Bank of America that it plans to close approximately 750 branches nationally.
The branch closures are part of a broader effort to shed $5 billion in costs over the next few years, including the elimination of some 30,000 jobs.
Credit unions won't be alone in looking to grab those customers and make them members, and there will be competition, too, for what may be some prime branch real estate.
Community banks across the country are also looking to get affected BofA customers to move their business to them. Bank of America currently operates approximately 5,900 branches in the U.S.
The BofA branch sale will start soon, predicted John Koelmel, president and chief executive of First Niagara Financial Group Inc. of Buffalo, N.Y.
"I've been very public over the last couple of years that the larger banks need to rightsize their business model and balance sheets, and they need to shed some assets," Koelmel, whose bank has $31 billion of assets, told American Banker, an affiliate of Credit Union Journal. "Organizations like ours that are focused on creating scale will have an opportunity to play off that."
