Banking Review

Wither the branch

The number of branches operated by Australian banks is slowly rising, but they have less and less to do

BY ELTON CANE

The number of branches run by Australian banks declined 32 per cent from 7,064 in 1993 to a low point of 47,898 in 2001. Since then, numbers have climbed 13 per cent back up to 5,054 as of June 2009 – even as we saw further consolidation among Australian banks.

But to characterise this as a resurgence of the branch channel is missing the point. Customer behaviours have changed.

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