LOUISIANA – The two largest banks in Louisiana ranked by total deposits trimmed a combined 34 branch locations during 2020, with fewer customers visiting bank branches and doing more banking online and some branch consolidations cited as reasons.
“I think there is a clear trend to reduce the number of branches across the country that has now been accelerated because of the pandemic,” said Terry McEvoy, a managing director at Stephens, which conducts research about the financial services industry. “There’s just less foot traffic.”
“I think this is going to be an accelerant to that behaviors that we were all as a society heading for anyway,” Richard Fairbank, the chief executive officer of Capital One told investors during an earnings call last April as the pandemic took hold nationally. He noted an advantage for banks that have built the capabilities to help customers do everything digitally. “It was always where the world is going, but I think it’s just an acceleration of the bell curve shifted in terms of, I think, the number of folks.”
