BB&T Closed 43 Branches, Plans to Open 30 in Texas

BB&T (BBT) in Winston-Salem, N.C., has been closing branches across its network, but is planning to expand its presence in Texas by nearly 50%.

The $177 billion-asset company closed 43 branches in 2013, according to a presentation made Tuesday by Kelly King, BB&T's president and chief executive, at the Barclays Global Financial Services conference. The branches are located throughout BB&T's 12-state territory, and the majority of the closings happened in the past two months, a BB&T spokesman said.

Separately, the bank is in the process of opening 30 new branches in Texas, the spokesman said Wednesday. BB&T currently has 58 locations in the state, and 1,866 throughout the United States, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The branch closures were part of the bank's ongoing, years-long review of its branch network, and the decision to shutter the 43 branches was based on several factors, including traffic, according to a statement provided by the BB&T spokesman.

"We recognize that any business closing can be an emotional issue for a community [and] we do not take the decision to close a financial center lightly," the statement read. "Based on many factors, including client usage patterns, the decision was made to close some branches this year."

In May, BB&T restructured its system of regional markets, reducing the number of market presidents to 23 from 37, in an effort to improve efficiency, it said. CEO Kelly King said in April that personnel cuts would be another focus of cost savings at the bank.