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What $5 Billion in New Branches Is Really Buying
For more than a decade, analysts forecasted the end of the bank branch.
Yet the institutions with the most money to spend aren’t retreating. Bank of
America plans to open 150 new financial centers
by 2027 and has
invested more than $5 billion in its network since 2016.According to Will Smayda, head of financial centers at Bank of America,
every new financial center the bank opens lifts digital sales in that same
market by roughly 50%. Physical presence accelerates digital engagement,
challenging the argument that branches compete with the mobile app.
But that lift isn't automatic. The deciding factor is deceptively
simple. The branch has to recognize the customer walking through the door.
The Branch's Job Already Changed
In the Digital Banking Report's 2026 Future of Branch Banking, more than 70% of institutions call branches
mission-critical or very important to long-term growth, and only a small
minority plan to shrink their networks. The report describes a branch being
rewritten around advice and relationships rather than transaction volume.
The routine transactions that once filled a branch now happen on a
phone. What brings someone in today is a mortgage, a small-business loan, a
financial plan, or a problem a chatbot can’t solve. Those decide whether a bank
deepens a relationship or loses the customer's confidence.
Consider a customer who spends a week in the bank's app researching a
mortgage, comparing rates and starting the application. She walks into the
branch to finish it, but the banker has no record of the application she began
days earlier. She starts over. The app knew her, but the branch didn’t. The
bank spent real effort to bring her through the door, then lost the thread at
the last step.
Multiply that across every channel. A question raised in the contact
center never reaches the person at the branch. A face-to-face conversation
never makes it back to the digital team. Most institutions still evaluate
locations by transaction counts and foot traffic, which say nothing about
whether a customer left better served than when they walked in. A bank spends
heavily to build a financial center and draw customers inside, then loses them
at the counter.
This is why the 50% lift isn't automatic. A financial center that
continues the journey a customer started strengthens the whole relationship and
makes the digital channels more valuable. One that forces people to repeat
themselves does the reverse. Same building, same investment. Opposite result.
What It Looks Like When It Works
The same report also found that customers no longer compare one bank to
another. They compare every interaction to the best experience they've had anywhere.
Against that standard, a branch visit that makes someone cover old ground feels
broken.
It's not the staff's fault. The branch and the app run on separate
systems that were never built to share information, so the person at the desk
can't see what the customer did online.
Connection changes that same encounter. The banker can see the
application the customer started online and the rates she flagged, so they pick
up where she left off. She feels recognized instead of processed, and her
mortgage keeps moving. The same holds wherever the journey began, whether in
the app or an earlier call.
The employee gains just as much. When the person at the desk can see the
full relationship and a suggested next step grounded in it, they can give
advice instead of just processing a request. That's the shift leaders have
wanted from the branch for years. And because the interaction is finally
visible, they can see whether a strong experience in one market is repeating in
the next, instead of assuming it is.
What the Money Actually Buys
Bank of America's $5 billion buys locations. It doesn't automatically
buy relationships. Whether the investment pays off depends on whether the
branch can see what the customer already did before walking in. The
institutions earning the digital lift have linked their channels together, so a
conversation that starts on the app continues at the desk, and what happens at
the desk flows back.
Every bank and credit union now has to build that link. The technology
to carry a customer’s history across mobile and the branch already exists, and
it doesn't require rebuilding the network. It asks leaders to treat the branch
as one point on a single customer journey.
The branch was never the problem. A location on a busy corner already
earns trust and draws customers in. A branch that also remembers them is worth
far more than the real estate alone.
About Author:
Rahul Kumar is the vice president and general manager of financial services and insurance for Talkdesk, which makes a customer experience automation platform. In 14 years of financial services, he has helped multiple organizations lead large-scale digital transformation programs. Over the last several years, he has helped several institutions realize significant business value through contact center modernization strategies. He is passionate about transforming member and customer experience through innovation, next-generation capabilities, and modern technology platforms.
Rahul Kumar is the vice president and general manager of financial services and insurance for Talkdesk, which makes a customer experience automation platform. In 14 years of financial services, he has helped multiple organizations lead large-scale digital transformation programs. Over the last several years, he has helped several institutions realize significant business value through contact center modernization strategies. He is passionate about transforming member and customer experience through innovation, next-generation capabilities, and modern technology platforms.