On small town bank closures

Here's a story from NPR's Scott Horsley headlined "'What Are We Going To Do?': Towns Reel As Banks Close Branches At Record Pace."  An excerpt follows: 

George Holland, the mayor of Moorhead, Miss., remembers the feeling when he heard that Regions Bank was closing its branch in his small, rural town a few years ago.

"That was actually the only bank in our community and the next-closest bank was probably 8, 9 miles to Indianola," Holland said. "I was thinking, 'What are we going to do?' "

Banks have been permanently shuttering branches for years, but the number of closures hit a record in 2020 as the pandemic accelerated the move by many customers to online banking.

Banks closed 3,324 branches last year, according to a tally by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

It makes financial sense for banks given the cost of operating branches.

"The reality is, the vast majority of the activity that happens in a branch is not revenue generating," said Steven Reider, who as president of the consulting firm Bancography advises banks on branch locations. "In fact, it's cost-carrying activity."

This reminds me of the upsides to postal banking, which is common in Europe, and which Prof. Mehrsa Baradaran has championed, though not with a focus on rural communities.