As some Slatington bank customers are absorbing the news of loss of two major branch banks in their community by year’s end, others have already gone through these withdrawal pains, and, according to banking experts, more is yet to come.

In as little as five years, banks will no longer use branches as part of their customer service channels, according to two-thirds of bankers polled for a recent survey.

The double whammy in Slatington affects customers of Wells Fargo, whose branch at 541 Main St. is scheduled to close on Aug. 3, and KeyBank’s branch at 502 Main St., which is scheduled to be consolidated with its Whitehall branch at 271 MacArthur Road on Dec. 2. These are just two of a multitude of closings that have impacted local customers during the past decade, and the trend is sure to continue.

Of course, representatives for the banks offer their sincere apologies for customers who will be inconvenienced by these closings. Wells Fargo’s Elise Corbett’s statement is typical of these expressions of regret. “We apologize for any inconvenience, and customers can continue to bank with us at other nearby locations, including the Schnecksville branch,” which is about 5 miles away, Corbett said.

The trend that had already begun prior to the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated during the last 2½ years, according to banking executives nationwide. According to a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit for financial services software firm Temenos, the future of branch banking is as bleak as it gets, with 65% of bank executives surveyed believing that the concept is already on life support.

Elimination of branch banks began in earnest with the financial crisis that started in 2008 and had progressed slowly until 2020 when COVID-19 forced lobby closings and other restrictions, requiring customers to use digital banking and other online services.

But not all customers have been able to adapt to the technological advances in banking in the internet era. Older customers, especially, are being left in the dust. They must rely on family members or bank personnel to walk them through the maze of prompts and clicks necessary to function in this new world of banking. And they don’t like it.

Although the latest technologies, such as artificial intelligence, the cloud and application programming interfaces are driving this transformation, to many older customers these terms are akin to a foreign language.

For example, more than a year ago, HSBC, one of the world’s major banks, announced that it was closing 82 branch banks motivated, it said, by rethinking its reliance on branches to serve customers.

Unlike the motivation in 2008, when branches were closing as cost-cutting measures, banks are investing heavily on technology to improve customer service through digital means and financial products (fintech). The ECU report indicates that many banks are partnering with fintechs to offer “attractive auxiliary products and often superior customer service.”

The majority of us no longer want to take the time to visit a branch and wait in line when a few clicks on our smartphone, desktop or laptop will do the job in a fraction of the time.

But let’s not write the epitaph of branch banking just yet. There are still sufficient numbers of customers who value branch banking. On the rare occasions when I do use lobby services of my branch bank, it is comforting to see familiar faces and be able to address them on a first-name basis while they do the same with me.

During the past five years, foot traffic in banks has declined by about one-third. During the past year, nearly 4,000 branch offices have been closed nationally.

The Slatington closures are just the latest. KeyBank’s Kresgeville Branch at 543 Interchange Road closed on April 1, requiring customers to travel 14 miles to the Lehighton branch. BB&T Bank closed its branch office at 330 Delaware Ave., Palmerton, last July 20 and was consolidated into the BB&T Walnutport branch. PNC Bank at 1279 Blakeslee Blvd. Drive E., Lehighton, closed last June 11. Among other branch closings are the former Mid Penn branch near Orwigsburg, and Santander Bank at 408 E. Broad St., Tamaqua.

In 2019, SunTrust and BB&T merged to become Truist Bank, resulting in about 800 branch closures. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Truist is the sixth-largest commercial bank in the U.S.

Karen Crane, Key Bank’s senior corporate communications manager, said that KeyBank realizes that the way clients interact with its branches is changing, “and we have seen a steady increase in client preference for digital banking,” she said. “KeyBank is continually looking into how we can better serve our clients and allow them to bank how they want and when they want,” she added.

The closing of bank branches also represents a psychological loss to a community, especially in small boroughs or rural locations. As long as there is one or more bank branches, retailers still see the viability of their community, whereas when all of the branches go, they view this as one of the last semblance of community cohesiveness and a loss of identity.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.