Financial institutions in the United States such as Wells Fargo and Bank of America have recently closed some of their stores. An example of this is in the city of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia, where Wells Fargo has closed 17% of its offices by 2020.
Its subsidiary, PNC, another major regional bank, also closed 15% of its offices in that city. Bank of America did the same with 5% of its branches.
However, this banking crisis is not only a problem in Philadelphia, but this phenomenon occurs in the main North American banks. New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, Washington DC, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, California, and Arizona all have facilities close to their headquarters.
In what context does the US trust crisis occur?
Analysts and experts began to worry about the situation when the bankruptcy of two major banks took place: Silicon Valley and Signature Bank.
For this reason, the federal government has tried to keep the savings of customers safe by using financial instruments at its discretion.
But the closure of bank headquarters is not new in the country, as banks are in the process of regularization.
In this sense, there were approximately 8,000 large bank headquarters in the United States of America in 2000, now there are 4,194. This is confirmed by the Federal Bank Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
Also, according to TheStreet, if the current trend continues in North America, within 10 years there will no longer be any in-person banking locations.
It can be said that there are several factors that have influenced the acceleration of these closures in the United States of America. Among them is a decrease in customers who decide to do their business in person.
Also, the covid-19 pandemic has driven people to stay at home and do their business digitally, also, coupled with the decline in profits due to long-term low user fees, new digital banks have emerged such as Partner Bank and SoFi.
Among all the closures in this scenario of banking institutions, it is the vulnerable communities that suffer the greatest negative impact. We are talking about ethnic minorities, poor villages and provinces.
