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We continue to see the trend of banks shutting down their physical locations and this time it is Chase Bank that is making waves in the news for the decision. It truly reflects a trend in the banking industry that seems sold on transferring most of its business to the online world.
With the rise in popularity of online banking, the convenience of the service for every day needs and the decline of cash as a method of payment, some banks just don’t see the benefit of maintaining as many branches. And the technology has advanced so much in recent years that the quirks that used to deter people from using the digital banking service have been slowly phased out for a better client experience.
Chase Bank closed over a hundred locations last year and continues with plans to close even more branches, oftentimes to the displeasure of its customers. Despite the rise in the use of technology, when there is a problem, clients still tend to go to the physical location of their bank to talk to a person directly instead of wasting hours on the phone with long waiting times and what feels like a million step verification processes.
The numerous closings have left the bank with a peculiar issue though. It may be running out of viable locations to eliminate. Marianne Lake, co-CEO of JPMorgan’s consumer and community banking unit, talked about the bank’s strategy at a Goldman Sachs conference in December 2023. “We’ve obviously been consolidating also, but going forward there are less and less accretive opportunities to consolidate.”
But, unlike other banks, Chase Bank seems to be opening new branches at a reasonable rate, Marianne Lake also stated this fact at the conference “Just really briefly on branches, you know that we continue to want to grow our branches in certain markets where we’ve either just entered them or where the opportunity is high. We have been adding branches at about gross, about 150 plus or minus a year. We expect to continue to do that. So over time, you’ll see our network generally be flat to up, but we’re going to keep adding in areas where we think the opportunity is there to do it.”
This pattern of reduction and growth could prove to strengthen the company’s bottom line as by adding locations in underserved areas and eliminate them in areas where there were too many or are easily accessible, it could help corner a portion of the market that seems to have been forgotten. And it is not just the technology illiterates. The growing market for these new locations could the technological deserts, sections of the country where citizens are too poor or isolated to make good use of technology and could still benefit from physical access to a bank.
For the time being, Chase Bank reported to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) a fair number of closings in March and April. The March locations have already been shut down, but we still don’t have a date for the projected April shutdowns.
Chase bank location closings
The list of the March locations closed down is:
1 March 2024
- 10900 Se 21st Avenue, Milwaukie, OR
7 March 2024
- 30730 Groesbeck Hwy, Roseville, MI
- 5060 Arlington Avenue, Riverside, CA
- 1319 State Road 7, North Lauderdale, FL
- 6950 Sunrise Boulevard, Citrus Heights, CA
- 2251 South Monaco Parkway, Suite 102, Denver, CO
14 March 2024
- 7160 N. 1st Street, Fresno, CA
15 March 2024
- 7001 Madison Avenue, Indianapolis, IN
- 3856 W 26th Street, Chicago, Cook
- 26603 72nd Avenue NW, Suite A, Stanwood, WA
- 3101 West Cermak Road, Chicago, IL
22 March 2024
- 240 N. Washington Boulevard, Suite 100, Sarasota, FL
The two branches that have already closed in April are the locations at
- 1030 W Alameda Avenue, Suite D-13, Burbank, CA | 4/4/2024
- 30730 Groesbeck Hwy, Roseville, MI | 4/5/2024
The rest of the April closures without dates are the following branches, so visit them now if you need anything from them.
- 5200 Dempster Street, Skokie, IL
- 4200 Dempster Street, Skokie, IL
- 50 Skokie Boulevard, Wilmette, IL
- 42 Broadway, New York, NY
- 8875 Broad St SW, Pataskala, OH
- 18499 Hesperian Blvd, San Lorenzo, CA
- 2865 E Charleston Boulevard, Las Vegas, NV
- 201 Main Street, Lafayette, IN
- 2201 Westwood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA.
