[adventured]

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.

[dboreham]

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.

[tblt]

> consolidate into 2-3 megabanks like in the UK

The UK has greater industry competition in the form of challenger banks than the US