Dive Brief:

• Bank of America plans to open branches in nine new markets and four new states by 2026, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank announced Tuesday.
• The bank’s multiyear retail banking expansion will grow its state presence to include Nebraska, Wisconsin, Alabama and Louisiana, the bank said. 
• The expansion comes as the bank continues a consolidation strategy aimed at closing two branches for every new one it opens, Aron Levine, Bank of America’s president of preferred banking, said at a conference this month.

Dive Insight:

The bank’s new markets include Omaha, Nebraska; Louisville, Kentucky; Boise, Idaho; Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin; New Orleans; Dayton, Ohio; and Birmingham and Huntsville, Alabama.

By the end of the expansion, Bank of America will have a presence in 200 markets across 39 states, bringing the lender closer to competitor JPMorgan Chase, whose branch network spans 49 states. 

New York City-based JPMorgan has launched in 17 new states since 2017. 

Bank of America has opened in 15 markets in the past eight years, including Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City and Indianapolis, Levine said at a Morgan Stanley conference this month.

In concert with its nationwide expansion, Bank of America is renovating and modernizing its existing branches.

The bank said its three-year branch modernization project is expected to be completed this year. By the end of the initiative, more than 2,500 branches will have been renovated, the bank said. 

“Although more clients are using our digital banking capabilities, many still visit our centers for in-person conversations about some of their more complex financial needs,” Levine said in a statement Tuesday. “Our redesigned centers make it easy for them to meet with professionals for tailored solutions and advice on their life priorities and financial goals.”

Meanwhile, Bank of America is continuing its net reduction in bank branches.

This month, Levine detailed the bank’s strategy of identifying areas where it can replace two older branches with a more modern design.

“We identify those places where there's a couple of older centers that could go and we replace it with a brand-new center,” he said.

The bank closed 525 branches in 2021 and 2022, which Levine called a “substantial” number for the two-year period.

But as the bank continues its net reduction, the pace will be more gradual, he said.

“[As] transactions go down, you can close those centers. People will drive a little longer, they'll make more appointments to go talk to someone about their financial life, about a mortgage, about a small business. And so you can change the nature of why a financial center exists. It's gone from transactional to relationship to a broader, more sophisticated set of conversations,” Levine said.