That's pretty interesting, because the US is often stereotyped for being aggressively cost-cutting in pursuit of margin. And yet in the middle of nowhere in the US local bank branches are still very common. I can easily get someone from my bank on the phone any time I need to. And if anyone attempts to move a large sum of money out of my account, the bank will promptly call me and freeze the action unless I allow it. Best of all the account is entirely free of fees with no minimum balance.
That's still considered normal customer service by a local bank here in the US. I assume it degrades if you bank with one of the giants like Bank of America.
The US has weird banking regulations dating back to the depression that lead to this situation. I'm sure banks in the US would love to close everything and consolidate into 2-3 megabanks like in the UK.
You know the answer - because branchless operations are cheaper. If you want to mandate in-person transactions, who would you have pay the extra costs?
Is it better to spend money subsidising bank branches? Or generally improving security and beefing up the police? I would say the latter - it benefits everyone and reduces crime.
The actual actions of the government have been to do neither.
You can't even talk to a live support person on the phone anymore. Just moved to the UK (from Czech Republic) and was shocked how everything is IVR here. We are all just numbers in the database here.
For most of us avoiding telephone queues is a blessing.
I have 3 "proper" bank accounts (different banks), a couple of "challenger"/app bank accounts, and 3 credit cards and haven't stepped foot in a branch to open or deal with any of them in 20 years. I've had to get on the telephone with a couple maybe a couple of times.
I couldn't be happier with this arrangement, as long as someone is reachable when shit really does hit the fan.
It is a huge problem if we cannot have vital services because they disappear. No banks given the trends, no cars given the trends, no documents given the trends... (In the terms of, many would not use a computer at all if the only option were UntrustedOS.) You can raise the issue of "more profits the other way", but it does not fully work ("dirt served at the restaurant, cheap and profitful") and an amount of people will remain serviceless.
That's still considered normal customer service by a local bank here in the US. I assume it degrades if you bank with one of the giants like Bank of America.