US Banks Close 180 Branches, Open 69 in September

U.S. banks and thrifts opened 69 branches and permanently closed 180 in September, leaving 81,472 active branches as of Sept. 30. Over the last 12 months, the industry has closed 4,700 branches and opened 1,131 branches, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. led the country last month with four net openings — 12 openings and eight closures — followed by BancorpSouth Bank, Encore Bancshares Inc. and Wintrust Financial Corp., which each posted two net openings. Over the last 12 months, JPMorgan has opened 192 branches and closed 305 across the U.S.

Meanwhile, Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp. were the largest net closers in September at 39 and 24, respectively. Wells Fargo closed five branches in California and four apiece in Pennsylvania, Alabama and Arizona.

New Jersey, California, and Michigan saw the most closures in September at 16, 15 and 11, respectively.

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