Branch network

Readers weigh in on chatbots, Amazon’s physical footprint expansion plans, alternative credit data and more.

Online retailers are investing in physical stores to build stronger customer relationships, but banks are reducing their footprints and ignoring opportunities to make customers happy.

An alliance between State Department FCU and American Citizens Abroad seeks to lower barriers for how Americans living abroad access their money.

MidSouth Bancorp in Louisiana, which faces a formal order from its regulators, will cut jobs, close branches and slash its dividend as it works to reduce its energy exposure.

The Palmetto State joins Alabama, Florida, Texas and other states to provide greater interstate branching access to members.

The role of branches in consumers' lives may be changing in the digital age, but brick-and-mortar locations are here to stay. To adapt, Citizens Bank has begun a "10-year process" of retrofitting its branch network.

The acquirer of the failed Guaranty Bank took a pass on the latter’s 107 in-store branches, leading to their shutdown and a disruption in service for many low-income customers.

Even as units of a larger holding company, local banks fight the perception that they can’t provide sophisticated services like corporate or private banking. Executives say that unifying the brand will help Synovus better compete against larger players.

A freewheeling discussion (over beers) about the future of branches with Tom Brown of Second Curve Capital and Dave Martin of BankMechanics at the Trump National Doral hotel in Miami during American Banker’s Retail Banking 2017 conference.

In the near future, branch authentication will likely rely more on things like iris scans and palm readers than physical ID cards.