Banks’ Branch Strategies Must Involve More Than Just Closing Branches

September 30, 2016

According to the FDIC, U.S. banks have been cutting branches steadily in recent years. Offices in FDIC-insured institutions reached a high of 99,500 at the end of 2Q09, but have declined by almost 8% since then, to less than 92,000.

Bank branch reductions are primarily driven by two factors: cutting costs in a low-revenue-growth environment; and the belief that customers’ increase use of electronic channels for everyday banking needs means that banks need fewer branches. According to the American Bankers Association, 73% of U.S. adults identified the Internet and mobile as their preferred banking methods, with only 14% naming branches. However, customers remain committed to branches. According to a March 2016 Accenture survey, 87% of North American banking customers expect to still use bank branches two years in the future. A branch strategy that simply consists of branch cuts fails to take into account customers’ ongoing branch affinity, as well as ignores the significant role that branches can play in helping banks meet sales and service goals. Here are four strategies that banks can follow to optimize their branch investments:

Create specialist branches. Some banks are opening offices to target specific segments, such as commercial clients or high-net-worth individuals. For example, BMO Harris opened a commercial banking office in Dallas in June 2016, while Wells Fargo opened a Middle Market Banking office in Albany in August 2016. These branches are located, designed and staffed to cater to the characteristics and unique financial needs of these segments. Unlike traditional branches that tend to form part of a network, these specialists branches can operate on a standalone basis, thereby ensuring that costs stay under control.
Use branches to promote digital services. Recognizing the transition to electronic channels for everyday banking transactions, banks can leverage their branch network to demonstrate the ease-of-use and value of these digital services to customers who are slow to embrace technology, while also showcasing innovations to early adopters of new technologies. Bank of America has deployed 3,800 ‘digital ambassadors’ in its branches who help customers understand and use its online and mobile banking services.
Overhaul branch staffing. Smaller branches require fewer personnel, but the staff must be comfortable with performing a range of service and sales activities. Embracing this model, PNC plans that half of its branches will have converted to ‘universal branches’ by 2020 (18% have done so to date)
Scale down the overall branch footprint. As they seek to reduce branch costs, banks need to take into account the benefits of having a physical presence in markets. This can involve using smaller branch formats (one extreme example is PNC’s portable 160-foot “Tiny Branch” on the West Virginia University’s Morganstown campus), reducing branch density, replacing a series of existing branches with one big flagship store, or even opening new branches in high-growth/high-potential markets. Decisions on the number, location and format of branches should be based on analyzing a number of key factors, including: competitive intensity; market size, growth and composition; current branch usage; short-term costs; and longer-term savings.

Five Strategies to Adapt Bank Branches to The New Normal

October 9, 2014

There is a wealth of evidence that consumers are using online and mobile channels as the primary channels for their everyday banking needs:

Having reached critical mass in online banking penetration, the largest U.S. banks continue to report strong growth in active mobile banking customers (Chase +23% y/y to 17.2 million; Bank of America up 17% to 15.5 million; and Wells Fargo +22% to 13.1 million)
Regional bank customers are also growing their usage of non-branch channels. 45% of PNC customers use non-branch channels for a majority of banking transactions. Fifth Third reports that ATM and mobile channels’ share of deposit volume rose from 12% to 31% over the past two years. KeyBank claims that online and mobile transactions are growing by 9% annually, while branch transactions are declining by 3%.

The rise of self-service channels for everyday banking transactions is leading banks to re-assess their investment in their branch networks. For example, banks are changing traditional assumptions as to what constitutes optimal branch density within markets. In a recent presentation, KeyBank claimed that branch density is now less relevant as long as a bank can pair branches with a good mobile offering. In addition, in a low-revenue-growth environment, banks are under pressure to cut costs in order to meet earnings expectations. As a result of these factors, banks are cutting branch numbers.

Bank of America is expected to cut branches to below 5,000 by the end of 2014, compared to more than 5,700 in the second quarter of 2011. It recently announced the sale of branch clusters in North Carolina and Michigan.
Over the past six months Citibank sold all of its branches in Texas, as it focuses its energies on a select number of large metro markets.
KeyBank has closed or sold 8% of its branches over the past two years, and plans to cut its network further, by about 2-3% per year.

However, banks remain strongly committed to their branch networks. This is largely due to the fact that consumers continue to value the branch channel, even if usage has declined. A recent ABA survey found that 21% of consumers named the branch as their preferred banking channel, up from 18% in 2013. In addition, banks recognize the benefits in encouraging customers to use multiple channels. Wells Fargo found that customers using its stores as well as online and mobile channels have a 70% higher purchase rate than customers who only use online and mobile. With in this mind, the following are five branch strategies that banks should follow, with examples of banks that have already implemented these approaches:

Deploy new branch formats. Given lower traffic and transaction volumes in branches, banks should launch branch prototypes with smaller footprints, so that they can maintain their physical presence, but at a lower cost.
- PNC has converted 200 of its branches to a smaller format, with 100 more to follow by the end of 2014.
Launch flagship branches in selected markets. With changing ideas around branch density, bank can consolidate multiple branches into a large flagship store. These flagship stores act as a brand beacon for the bank in specific markets, as well as providing space for the bank to showcase new innovations
- Citi recently opened a 6,400-square-foot branch in San Francisco, following the opening of similar stores in New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
Reconfigure branch staff. As branch activity is switching from transaction processing to sales and advice, and branches switch to smaller format, bank can reduce the average number of staff per branch, but should also change the functional balance, with fewer tellers and more sales specialists.
- In the 18 months to June 2014, Fifth Third cut 22% of its branch service staff, but increased sales staff by 6%.
- Over the past year, PNC has grown its number of investment professionals in branches by 4%.
Incorporate technology into branches. As consumers become more accustomed with using technology for their everyday financial needs, banks should showcase customer-facing technology in branches. This can enhance the user experience and capture sales opportunities
- Regions is installing two-way video to enable customers communicate directly with bankers via an ATM.
Open branches outside of footprint. As having a critical mass of branches in a market is no longer a prerequisite for success, banks can open branches beyond their traditional retail footprint, to target specific consumer or business clusters.
- City National has established branches in New York City, Atlanta and Nashville, dedicated to targeting entertainment firms that are clustered within these markets.

Leading U.S. Banks Maintain Commercial Lending Momentum

July 28, 2014

Strong growth in commercial lending for leading U.S. banks has offset declines in other loan categories in recent years, but coming into 2014, there was evidence that the rate of growth in commercial lending was tailing off. However, EMI’s analysis of second quarter 2014 financials for 14 leading banks shows that commercial loan growth remains robust. Average commercial loans rose 8.4% between 2Q13 and 2Q14, up from a 7.4% y/y growth rate in 1Q14.

10 of the 14 banks reported stronger y/y growth in 2Q14 compared to 1Q14. Most banks attributed the stronger growth to improved business confidence. Other factors that drove commercial loan growth included:

Slow but steady growth in commercial loan utilization: for most banks, loan utilization is well below historic norms, but there has been a gradual improvement in this metric in recent quarters. Fifth Third reported that its commercial loan utilization rate rose from 30% in 1Q14 to 32% in 2Q14. Chase’s loan utilization grew three percentage points in the first half of 2014 to 33%, but this remains well below the 40% level that Chase considers to be the historic norm.
Industry targeting propelling overall commercial loan growth. A number of leading banks attributed a significant part of their growth to their targeting of specific industry segments. Huntington Bank reported that half of its commercial loan growth came from targeted verticals. Comerica reported strong y/y growth in its technology and life sciences (+32%), as well as its energy (+10%) portfolios.

As banks have been pushing to grow their commercial loan portfolios in recent years, yields have been steadily decreasing. So, with banks continuing to report strong commercial loan growth in 2Q14, did loan yields continue to decline? The answer: yields continued to decline on a y/y basis for most banks, as the market remains very competitive. For the 11 leading banks in the chart below, 10 reported double-digit basis-point declines in commercial loan yields between 2Q13 and 2Q14. And two of the banks—U.S. Bank and Bank of America—now have yields below 3%. However, there are some signs that the decline in yields is beginning to taper off; three of the banks—Fifth Third, Capital One and Key—reported q/q increases in their commercial loan yields.

Assuming that economic growth and business confidence continue to grow, demand for commercial loans should also continue to remain robust. The following are four areas where banks should concentrate efforts in order to propel their commercial loan growth:

Identify and target high-potential commercial segments. Banks need to look at both external and internal factors in identifying high-potential segments. The external factors include segment size and growth rates, as well as segment clusters within the bank’s commercial banking footprint. Internal factors include having the required in-house skills, experience and product solutions to effectively target these segments. Industry sector represents the most effective segmentation criterion, given the fact that companies within industries tend to have similar characteristics and needs. However, banks should also look to identify opportunities using other business segmentation criteria, such as ethnicity and gender.
Develop consistent marketing for all commercial banking solutions. Due to their silo-ized structures and cultures, different groups within a commercial banking organization may develop their own marketing and sales communications, which can create confusion for clients. Banks should create an overall value proposition for their commercial banking operations, as well as guidelines for messaging and creative executions, to provide a unified face to the client.
Capture cross-sell opportunities. Again due to their traditional structures and cultures, banks have often fallen short in developing synergies across business units and selling the entire bank to the customer. However, banks like Wells Fargo and Huntington have been steadily growing commercial cross-sell rates. Banks should build programs to grow referrals rates between different business units, and should incorporate both retention and cross-sell goals into commercial bankers’ compensation structures.
Invest in Content marketing. In a world where we are overwhelmed with information, commercial clients will be attracted to a bank that can provide insights and advice on various topics. In developing content for commercial clients, the topics need to be of interest and importance to the client. They also need to be topics on which the bank can speak authoritatively. And lastly, banks need to take into account that the objective of content marketing is not to promote its products and solutions, but rather to position itself as a valuable source of intelligence and advice.