Greater Washington’s share of bank branches is at its lowest count this century as online tools and Covid-19 accelerate the decline.
Data released last week by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. shows the D.C. area lost a net 90 bank branches to fall to 1,401 among 72 financial institutions as of June 30. The amount of money held in those banks, meanwhile, swelled to $362.6 billion, up from $313.5 billion in mid-2020.
This marks the lowest branch count of financial institutions since 1998, as several of the regional leaders contracted again — yet another once-reliable real estate tenant drying up in the era of online business exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Truist Bank, the local leader in branch count, closed 40 to shrink to 248 locations, according to the FDIC data – the bank formed from the $66 billion merger of Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks Inc. and Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based BB&T Corp., and branch cuts were an expected outcome. Bank of America grew by one branch…
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