Yeah I value a few branches around. I'd hate to rely my finances on some startup with an app that could stop working any time. A branch gives some idea of permanence. Maybe its an illusion but I just dont trust virtual only banks.
I did make that mistake and started my adult life banking with the former simple.com. Their actual banking partners were just small local banks in random midwestern places. My grandma got me into Navy Federal and there’s plenty of branches around where I live and I really prefer having a location to stop by with a question
I totally understand not wanting to use a "fintech", which is usually not a chartered bank.
But Chase, BoA, etc. etc. all have very good mobile apps. I still don't see why you would hardly ever have to go to a branch if you used one of these apps.
The right answer, as pointed out clearly in the article, is generational. Older generations normally have much more wealth than younger generations, and that's on top of the fact that millennials have a lot less wealth at this stage of their life than baby boomers did.
So the vast majority of wealth held by retail banks is for people who got most of their wealth, and certainly most of their banking experience, before online banking existed. I have a strong sense that once that generation passes that bank branches will go the way of the dodo, or else completely transform into something else (e.g. like what some banks are trying to do with "coffee shop" branches).
