The branch banking model
The author could not be more wrong.<p>Branches exist to handle and process A) cash demands, B) check and other non-specie instruments, and C) paper for commercial clients. If they’re a community or specialty bank, branches also exist to serve the particular, unusual needs of their community,—usually business needs. These special needs often include unusual skills such as assessing the quality of a crop or meeting with specialized experts.<p>That branches happen to also offer convenience to consumers is a happy accident, mostly, and it’s happier in that businesspeople are themselves consumers and often select their business bank based on where they personally bank. Branches are JUSTIFIED regulatorily by their public benefit which centers, in most cases, around consumer and SMB (which is to say, prosumer) access. But like many things, the regulatory rationale and the real purpose do not fully correspond. I’m sure you’re as shocked as I.<p>If branches were about sourcing consumer deposits, they would be uninsurable properties, because banks would burn their branches to the ground. Rest assured.<p>Source: I run banks.