Following years of nearly unchecked expansion, financial institutions across the U.S. are closing thousands of outposts as pressures mount to cut costs and more customers embrace online and mobile banking, the Wall Street Journal reported today. U.S. banks and thrifts shut 2,267 branches in 2012, according to SNL Financial, a Charlottesville, Va.-based research firm. That put the U.S. bank-branch count at 93,000, according to AlixPartners, a New York consulting firm—the lowest tally since 2007. The firm expects the figure to drop to 80,000 over the next decade, putting the total closer in line with 2000 levels. Banks say they are closing branches because they are becoming too expensive to operate. Associated Bank, which is the largest bank based in Wisconsin, estimates that each branch shutdown saves the company $300,000. A unit of Associated Banc-Corp, it closed 21 branches last year and is in the process of shutting another dozen.
