Branch banking

Debbie Crowder heads SunTrust Banks’ most high-profile business line — its branch network — and she takes seriously the position she is in to improve the lives of both employees and the customers and communities they serve.

When the Birmingham, Ala., bank was rethinking its branch strategy, it had to reconsider the role of its tellers. Ultimately, it decided to transition those workers to a more general banker role that emphasizes meaningful conversations with customers and continuous career progression.

The cuts are part of a broader effort to trim expenses by roughly $3 billion a year by 2020.

All three credit unions hold less than $250 million in assets.

The beloved annual feature is back on Sept. 20 to highlight the magical and the mundane moments credit unions experience every day.

The bank chalked up its outage to "a normal system upgrade that experienced technical difficulty."

This is the second such pact the Great Lakes State has entered in order to make interstate branching for state-chartered credit unions more accessible.

The Minneapolis bank is betting that it has the heft — and the brand recognition — to compete for deposits in states where its biggest rivals already dominate.

Some are relying on a national, digital strategy. Others say the right balance of costs and growth comes from more traditional means such as targeted branch openings and out-of-market expansion.

Financial institutions need to manage expectations about what they can offer customers or they risk losing credibility with customers.