The Importance of Being Human

There is a belief that banking can become purely digital. During the pandemic cash usage fell and we couldn’t visit bank branches. Banks were quick to close ATMs and branches, justifying this as customer choice. Apps were downloaded and most of the population went online. It seemed to work.

This assumes we are now all ‘digital humans’ able and willing to interact with our banks through apps and online banking. Is that really true or is life more complex, more chaotic than that?

JP Morgan, which has 60 million digital customers worldwide, has just held an investors day where it made the statement that ‘our branch network is our core strategic asset’. It was referring to the US, where it has almost 5,000 branches under its Chase brand. In the US bank branch proximity is key for why customers choose a bank across all channels. In 2021 75% of its balances were held by customers who regularly use its branches, 25% of Chase branded cards were opened in branches and banker referral to One Chase partners were up 20% year-on-year.