Research: Bank branches are disappearing from rural America
- Banks continue to close branches around the US.
- While many communities have fewer branches today, poorer, more rural communities are hit the hardest.
Banks continue to rationalize their real estate footprints across the U.S. They are closing bank branches and reinvesting in digital channels across markets. For the most part, the emergence of digital channels replaces the need for many customers to visit a banker in person.
But for poor, rural communities, the evolution to digital is happening at a slower pace than branch closures are, leaving customers underbanked and increasingly, unbanked, according to research from the Federal Reserve Bank.
Here’s what the data show:
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