Wave of closures expected in Europe Thousands of bank branches before the end

As of: June 8th, 2021 8:58 am

For many European private banks, running a tightly knit network of branches is no longer worthwhile. According to a new study, almost half of the stores will close in the coming years. A study by the business consultancy PwC predicts a wave of branch closings by European banks. According to this, up to 40 percent of the branches could be on the verge of closure by 2023. This means that drastic cuts are imminent for employees and customers of the branches. Study author Andreas Pratz and his colleagues looked at around 50 private customer banks and banking groups with a total of 690 million customers as well as estimated private customer deposits and loan volumes of 18 trillion euros. Banks from 15 countries in Europe and, for comparison purposes, also in North America and Australia were included.

Too little income from the branches

The main reason for the expected closure measures is the poor profitability of the branches for the banks. According to the study, the average profit per customer in the past year 2020 dropped again by eight percent to 193 euros. There is also less and less business being done in the branches. For example, fewer and fewer bank customers are making international transactions, and the demand for consumer credit has also continued to decline. The income per customer is below average in branches in Germany, it is 172 euros. In contrast, a customer in Switzerland brought an average profit of 444 euros, in Austria slightly above average 208 euros. In Italy and Spain, too, the yields are significantly higher than in Germany. According to the study author Pratz, higher bank fees are charged there or salary accounts are better linked to other bank offers such as construction financing. According to Pratz, there are also major differences in Germany. The “associations”, ie the Volksbanks and the savings banks, achieved better earnings than the branches of private commercial banks.

Cancellation programs launched

Only a quarter of European commercial banks managed to increase their sales in the past year. This increases the cost pressure considerably and directs the bank managers’ attention to their own branch networks. Many of the big banks have already launched job cancellation programs in recent months and in some cases tightened them again, including Deutsche Bank and the French Société Générale. Commerzbank and Postbank had also announced drastic branch closings in the past few weeks. The study assumes that bank branches in Europe will shrink from just under 60,000 to just 36,000 in 2023. More and more new sales channels are taking the place of the branches: “Instead of luring as many customers as possible into the branches through the best locations, customer contacts will in future be gained through targeted online marketing”, according to the author of the study, Pratz.