TOKYO -- Banks around the world have significantly scaled back their bricks-and-mortar infrastructure, as the growing popularity of low-cost online banking forces a rethink of their business model.
The number of physical bank branches in roughly 100 countries with comparable data has dropped by 56,000, or 14%, over the past 10 years, according to International Monetary Fund data on commercial banks. The U.S. shed 1,500 in 2020 alone, while bank-heavy Italy dropped 800.
