[7Figures2Commas]

> In New York City, many of the businesses that move in are banks. There are more than 1,800 bank branches in New York — 60% more than there were a decade ago.

There was an article about this in the Wall Street Journal last year[1]. Excerpt:

> But why open a branch on every corner? The blame, it turns out, lies with us. We're asking for it.

> TD, which has more than 1,300 branches in cities up and down the East Coast, conducted a customer survey and discovered that, compared to the rest of the nation, New Yorkers are obsessed with branch convenience. While folks in other towns value frivolities like friendly service, New Yorkers more often rank convenient ATMs and branches a top priority. They want locations near their homes, their offices and the offices of their spouses, says Mr. Giamo. They want to see their bank everywhere they go.

When it comes to the subject of community, a lot of people don't want to accept that communities are dynamic. The ways in which they change are almost always driven by the needs and wants of the people in those communities, even though you will always find vocal people in those communities who swear that can't be the case.

[1] http://www.wsj.com/articles/all-those-banks-in-new-york-city...

[wavefunction]

I guess I wonder though... Physical locations are pretty large expenses so do New Yorkers pay more for their banking services per capita than other bank customers to support this psychological need to see their bank everywhere or is this psychological want just something being underwritten by the rest of the bank customers.

[m-i-l]

Interesting to read that the number of bank branches is actually increasing in New York. In the UK the opposite is happening as more and more consumers are doing their banking online: "the UK has lost a quarter of its retail bank branches over the past ten years" (650 estimated closures in 2015, 500 in 2014 and 222 in 2013) [0]. Many of the closed banks are turned into bars, see [1] for some nice examples.

[0] http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=28007

[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/29801667/see-the-pubs-...

[walshemj]

Yes that struck me as odd as well uk banks are shedding staff and closing branches.

You would have expected the same to play out in the USA.

[titzer]

I have a hard time believing any conclusion based on the premise that banks listen to their customers (depositors), given a long-standing behavior of anti-customer behavior like a plethora of fees, minimum deposit, and in general, sagging interest rates.

[7Figures2Commas]

The "sagging interest rates" are a product of Fed monetary policy, and much of the fee-generating behavior you describe has been motivated in some part by the Fed's monetary policy too. But please don't let that stop you from blaming the banks.

[robrenaud]

I love having the ATM around, in the train station, in the convenience store, etc.

But the entire bank attached to the ATM has almost no value. I think I've talked to a real live person in a bank like twice in the last three years.