Branch banking

Front-line employees yearn to be told they still have a critical role to play, as more customers are seeking in-person help amid the pandemic.

The Indiana company said the move reflects a need to cut costs and customers' increased preference for digital channels.

The Delaware company would remove a rival, gain scale in affluent Philadelphia suburbs and accelerate its transformation from a branch-heavy lender to a digital-first bank with the $976 million acquisition.

Toronto-Dominion Bank said it will close 82 bank branches in the U.S. as part of a “store optimization” in its American unit, where net income dropped in the fiscal first quarter.

As self-service banking offerings continue to gain ground, financial firms must evolve their brick-and-mortar facilities in order to better serve consumers.

A severe cold snap in the state has tested financial institutions unaccustomed to such weather-related disruption.

Comerica, Regions and Frost Bank closed hundreds of branches statewide while others ran them at reduced capacity or on power generators to help ease the strain on the state’s overwhelmed power grid.

The North Carolina-based credit union, which purchased the vacant bank branch last summer, serves some members across the state line but has not had a brick-and-mortar presence there until now.

Canada’s fourth-largest bank is pressing ahead with big technology investments to cut costs and try to generate more revenue from existing customers, said Erminia Johannson, BMO’s head of personal and business banking for the U.S. and Canada.

The credit union expects to open at least eight branches across the country in the months ahead, about half of what it normally adds to its brick-and-mortar network in an average year.

The companies are reacting to an ongoing shift in customer preferences to digital channels.

The ATM and payment terminal makers are facing more competition from software providers. Both have taken steps to head off this threat.

Cardtronics will accept a $1.7 billion sale to NCR after the ATM producer outbid Apollo Global Management and Hudson Executive Capital.

The Columbus, Ohio, company plans to close nearly 200 branches in the state — including more than 90 in Meijer grocery stores — after it acquires TCF Financial. It also intends to significantly boost its technology spending to improve its digital capabilities.

Pandemic-induced shifts in how people work and bank will allow the Tennessee company to shed more branches and office space. It now projects it will slash expenses by an additional $30 million a year.

The Connecticut company said it will take several years to shut down the locations, which are located in Stop & Shop stores. About 80% of the branches are within five miles of traditional locations.

Sandy Spring Bancorp also plans to shrink its network as more customers move to digital channels.

Hundreds of branches temporarily shuttered during the pandemic are now permanently closed.

CEO Michael Hayford wants to transform Cardtronics' ATM fleet into a distribution network for fintech services. But first he has to persuade the company to accept his offer.

NCR offered to buy Cardtronics for more than $1.7 billion, beating an earlier bid for the ATM operator from Apollo Global Management Inc. and a partner.