Ms. Xia, who works in a provincial capital city, passes by ICBC and ABC near the subway station every day. Six months ago, she suddenly found that the two bank outlets were quietly closed.
“In the past, I seldom went to the bank. The most I could do was to deposit and withdraw cash,” Ms. Xia told Zhongxin Jingwei. “After the outlets are closed, I have to go to further bank outlets.”
According to media reports, according to the statistics released by the financial license information platform of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, in the list of withdrawal of commercial banking institutions in 2021, a total of 2805 bank outlets terminated business, a decrease of 889 compared with the previous year. According to the 2021 annual report of the six major banks of Zhongxin Jingwei statistics, by the end of 2021, the number of branches of the six major state-owned banks had decreased compared with the end of the previous year, with a total decrease of more than 600.
Recently, the person in charge of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission responded to the decrease in the number of outlets at a press conference: “in recent years, the physical outlets of Chinese commercial banks have shrunk, which is an objective phenomenon. But I personally don’t think it means that the Bank Of China Limited(601988) industry market is shrinking.” The person in charge also pointed out that while canceling some outlets, the cbcirc led the banks to set up some new outlets in some areas, and the number of outlets and staff remained basically stable on the whole.
bank outlets increase or decrease
Has the number of bank outlets decreased? After combing the annual report data of the six major state-owned banks in 2021, Zhongxin Jingwei found that by the end of 2021, the number of domestic branches of the six major banks had decreased by 634 compared with the end of the previous year.
Among them, China Construction Bank Corporation(601939) , the largest action, decreased from 14708 in 2020 to 14476 in 2021, a decrease of 232.
While the number of outlets decreased, the number of employees in many banks also declined Industrial And Commercial Bank Of China Limited(601398) from 440000 in 2020 to 434100 in 2021, Agricultural Bank Of China Limited(601288) 459000 to 455200, Bank Of China Limited(601988) from 309100 to 306300 The number of Bank Of Communications Co.Ltd(601328) employees decreased from 90716 to 90238, a decrease of 478.
Only the number of employees in China Construction Bank Corporation(601939) and Postal Savings Bank Of China Co.Ltd(601658) increased. Among them, China Construction Bank Corporation(601939) increased from 349700 in 2020 to 3513000 in 2021, an increase of 1581 Postal Savings Bank Of China Co.Ltd(601658) from 177800 to 178300, an increase of 455.
The total number of employees of ABC was 8693000 as of December 2021, which was another decrease compared with the total number of employees of ABC. In 2019, the number of counter staff of ABC was 104400.
Although the number of branches of the six major banks has decreased, according to media statistics, while shutting down more than 2800 outlets, 2260 outlets were approved last year.
According to the statistics of Zhongxin Jingwei, the number of outlets of some joint-stock banks and urban commercial banks has increased. For example, at the end of Ping An Bank Co.Ltd(000001) 2021, there were 1177 business institutions, an increase of 74 compared with 1103 business institutions at the end of 2020601 by the end of 19982021, there were 1415 business outlets, 10 more than 1405 at the end of 2020 Industrial Bank Co.Ltd(601166) the number of business outlets increased from 2003 at the end of 2020 to 2020 at the end of 2021 Bank Of Ningbo Co.Ltd(002142) the number of institutions also increased from 422 at the end of 2020 to 463 at the end of 2021.
Pan Helin, CO director and researcher of digital economy and financial innovation research center of International United Business School of Zhejiang University, said in an interview with Zhongxin Jingwei that there were many outlets of large banks. At present, the intelligent level of outlets has been improved, the coverage of self-service business has increased, the business intensity of outlets has also been reduced, and most financial retail businesses such as public payment are solved by Internet banks, Therefore, outlets no longer need such a high density. It is the general trend to close some outlets and centralize their business.
Pan Helin pointed out that for small and medium-sized banks, they still lack outlets, and outlets are the channel for them to obtain user traffic. Many of them rely on localized financial services. They need to improve business growth by increasing the density of financial outlets, increasing coverage and improving the convenience of users’ access to financial services.
network optimization and adjustment in progress
Whether the number of outlets is reduced or not, the bank staff at the grass-roots level have a personal experience. A customer manager who once worked in the grass-roots network of a state-owned bank in Beijing told Zhongxin Jingwei that he encountered the closure of the network during his work, mainly due to the expiration of the rent or the integration of the bank network.
“Most outlets rent office buildings. When the lease term comes, they may consider whether to renew the contract, and some are removed because of poor performance.” The account manager said.
The account manager of a state-owned bank in a northern city told Zhongxin Jingwei, “there is indeed a abolition, but we call it layout adjustment.”
She said her bank would “close the old and open the new”. “From the perspective of a city, the total number changes little. It may be that the old urban area is declining, so it will reduce a few, and the new urban area is developing, so it will increase a few.” The account manager said that the adjustment of outlets had little impact on employees, mainly by changing outlets.
Zhongxin Jingwei found that many banks also disclosed the relevant situation of network optimization in their annual reports. ICBC said that in 2021, the bank will solidly promote the optimization and adjustment of outlets. Throughout the year, 714 outlets were optimized and 1528 outlets were renovated; Effectively improve the county service supply, build 151 new outlets in the county, and realize the entry of 15 blank County outlets.
In fact, Zhang Wenwu, vice president of ICBC, said at the 2020 performance conference that the macro layout of outlets should continue to be adjusted. Firstly, in view of the layout adjustment of urban functions, the network layout should also change with time, and the network layout needs to be adjusted according to the economic adjustment. Secondly, on the premise of vigorously promoting the urban-rural linkage strategy, ICBC will also actively implement the strategy.
Agricultural Bank Of China Limited(601288) said that the bank complied with the changes in the development pattern of urban and rural areas, adjusted and optimized the layout of outlets, lowered the service focus, increased the layout of potential areas such as new urban areas, urban-rural fringe and key towns, and improved the output efficiency of outlets.
China Construction Bank Corporation(601939) also pointed out that the bank continued to optimize the network layout and construction, focusing on ensuring the investment of channel construction resources in major national strategic planning regions and key cities such as Beijing Tianjin Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Bay area; We will promote the improvement of inefficient outlets and the optimization of their layout, increase the withdrawal, merger and relocation of inefficient and dense outlets in urban areas, and expand the coverage of outlets in new urban planning areas and counties.
outlets are still necessary
Nowadays, the number of young people entering bank outlets is very few in a year. Is it necessary for banks to exist in the future?
Some investors once raised this question to ICBC. At that time, Zhang Wenwu responded that even if a large number of businesses were online, outlets were still an important channel for ICBC to carry out business.
Zhang Wenwu pointed out that the functions of outlets should keep pace with the times. Most of the online businesses now belong to some simple standardized and value-added businesses such as transfer and remittance. Some complex businesses precipitated, including accounts, loans, investment and wealth management and high value-added businesses, also need outlets to do
\u3000\u3000 “At this stage, outlets are still an important user entrance for banks, and the businesses they carry have changed greatly from the past. Most of them need personalized guidance, such as mortgage business, corporate credit business, intermediary business, etc. they are gradually oriented to high-end customers and bulk credit. These fields can not be met online, and grass-roots tellers need to further follow up risk control. therefore, the density of outlets will be reduced, but outlets will not Withdraw from the stage of history. ” pan Helin pointed out.
Although the bank’s physical outlets will not withdraw from the historical stage for a long time, it does not mean that they can remain unchanged. Many bank outlets are making efforts to transform and launch some characteristic outlets, such as E-sports outlets, coffee outlets, etc Ping An Bank Co.Ltd(000001) said in the annual report that the bank focused on promoting the scene operation of “thousands of stores and thousands of faces” of its outlets, and strengthened the social and ecological operation of its outlets by launching characteristic stores such as health, old age and children, so as to provide customers with localized and personalized services closer to their needs.
At the same time, banks are also accelerating the digital transformation of outlets Bank Of China Limited(601988) said that the bank cut into the construction of digital government and smart city from the financial scene to promote the smart operation of outlets. In addition, focus on the elderly and other key customers, and launch the “senior version” service mode of smart counter to help the elderly cross the digital divide and improve the inclusive nature of smart financial services.
As the relevant person in charge of the CBRC said, economic and financial development and information development have brought profound changes to the financial industry. The phenomenon that the number of people in the bank’s outlets has decreased and the consumption habits of customers have changed objectively requires the bank to reshape the organizational structure, innovate the system and mechanism, and provide Lbx Pharmacy Chain Joint Stock Company(603883) with more convenient electronic and automated services.
