Insight - Pandemic moves big banks to go small and away from the city

Some are now looking to speed up closures to cut costs and better weather the crisis, including Credit Suisse and Commerzbank.

LONDON: The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift to online banking in Europe, but it has also given some suburban branches an unexpected new purpose – as alternative office space for staff reluctant to commute to big headquarters in city centres.

Lenders have been slowly cutting the number of often unprofitable branches for years, but opposition from unions and politicians over leaving people without access to a physical outlet meant many were unable to cut on the scale they wanted.