Why would a bank require someone to go to a branch to change their phone number? I can change my contact info on the website for all the financial institutions I use.
The branch is the last place where a real person meets another real person. Even that person looks up everything on their terminal, and the whole thing is probably security theater, but I think having at least one physical backstop is a good idea.
My banks require physical presence for stuff like changing phone numbers and nominees. We get OTPs on our phones, so that makes perfect sense.
My mom works at a credit union and the staff are constantly saving people from scams just because the customer came in and the staff had a chance to notice something fishy happening.
I can too, but the difference is that I'm also not the Pope. Someone supplanting the identity of some rando is a negligible risk for the bank compared to supplanting the Pope.
My banks require physical presence for stuff like changing phone numbers and nominees. We get OTPs on our phones, so that makes perfect sense.