News in Brief

Branch Closures Continue

Deutsche Bank has announced that it will close 150 bank and Postbank branches this year and a further 50 Postbank branches next year. The CEO said that customers are coming to branches less often, preferring to use digital products such as remote advisory video sessions. In January Commerzbank announced it would close 340 branches in Germany.

The Spanish CaixaBank has merged with Bankia. To remove overlaps and take advantage of synergies it will close 1,530 bank branches and reduce its workforce by 8,300, a quarter of the combined banking network.

World Bank figures quoted in a Moody’s rating agency report said that in 2008 Spain had 105 bank branches per 100,000 residents, three times the European average, and that by 2019 this had dropped to 46, still twice the European average. Since 2019 bank branch closures have continued with Banco Santander, Banco Sabadell and BBVA all closing branches and laying off 9,100 staff. Away from Europe, Standard Chartered bank, which operates in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, is halving its branch network down to 400 branches.