Comerica, which has largely avoided the industrywide trend of branch consolidation during the pandemic, will close 22 of its retail locations, or 5% of its existing footprint.
Eleven branches in Michigan, eight in Comerica's home state of Texas and three in California are expected to close by September, the $89.2 billion-asset bank said in a
"The goal is to better accommodate flexible work arrangements, reduce our footprint, while maximizing locations that best serve our customers," Megan Crespi, Comerica’s executive vice president, chief enterprise technology and operations services officer, said Monday in remarks at an industry conference.
Crespi cited the COVID-19 pandemic as a factor that hastened the changes. The branch closing are part of Comerica's broader shift toward a "digital culture," which includes investing in a cloud-first platform and closing data centers, she said.
During the pandemic,
Over the last two years, Comerica has generally maintained its existing branch footprint. The Dallas-based bank, which primarily operates in Texas, Arizona, California, Michigan and Florida, had 435 branches in March 2020 and now has 432, according to spokesperson Nicole Idzi Hogan.
Comerica doesn't expect staff layoffs as a result of the planned closures, Hogan said, adding that impacted employees will be reassigned to other locations and encouraged to apply for open positions across the company.
Citing customers’ increased adoption of digital services over the past two years, banks are shrinking their physical presence, while also renovating the locations they keep — but credit unions are bucking the trend.
The decision to close branches is part of a plan to streamline operations, pivot towards growth markets, and deepen relationships with target customer groups, including small businesses, Comerica said in a press release.
"Where demand is not as strong, we consolidate locations. We can then reallocate those resources to capture and serve our markets more effectively or expand into new areas," Cassandra McKinney, executive director of Comerica’s retail bank, said in the release.
Affected customers will be directed to nearby in-person branches, web or mobile banking apps, ATMs and interactive teller machines, which offer real-time video chats with tellers.
Comerica said it will hire more small-business bankers and retrain staff to provide knowledge more relevant to customers' changing needs.
