"What are we supposed to do now?": French bank branches are closing one after another (and this is just the beginning)

Opaque adhesive tape covers the sign that indicated the location of the village's only bank branch. The front of the Normandy-style establishment - minus the half-timbering - has had its iconic green sign removed. In its place, a message reads: "See you soon in your new branch." Established since 1947 in E cos, in Vexin-sur-Epte (Eure), Crédit Agricole packed up shop in May , erasing all traces of its existence. With this closure, the residents of this town find themselves without any bank advisor, reception desk, or ATM. Several of them, encountered in the streets and local shops at the end of July, said they were upset, even frankly disoriented, by the situation.

"What are we supposed to do now?" asks Alain, 76, who has come to the PMU bar in the village center to try his luck with two scratch cards. Don't even mention digital technology to carry out everyday banking transactions. "Online banking? My brain won't let me, I've stopped at Minitel!" he hisses, his voice raised and his eyes laughing.

The tone is light, but the situation is critical. Like other retirees in the village, Alain went to his branch almost every day for over twenty years. "Sometimes up to three times a day," to make transfers, deposit checks, or even monitor his accounts, since he couldn't do it from a computer or smartphone. "It's like doing taxes or making medical appointments online. For me, it's all a disaster," admits the septuagenarian. Resigned, he'll have to head to the branch in the area that's still open, located eight kilometers away. And inevitably, go there less often. "I have a heart condition, I tell myself that if one day my license is taken away, I'm done for."

Asked by franceinfo about its strategy, the mutual bank explains that it has "always" adapted its "network as closely as possible to the needs of [its] customers in the regions." However, Crédit Agricole is far from being the most affected by this movement, which has been underway for several years and has accelerated in recent months. Commercial banks are rather at the top of the list. According to information from franceinfo, BNP Paribas is considering closing nearly 600 branches in France by 2030, out of a network that currently has nearly 1,500 across the country. All this without making any layoffs.

The group confirmed to franceinfo that the branch closures are underway, but declined to provide any figures. "The bank is adopting a pragmatic approach, region by region, whether it involves consolidating branches, closing them, or renovating them. The goal is to have the most relevant banking system for our customers in France and to have the majority of our branch teams composed of at least five employees by 2030," it asserted.

CCF (which operated under the name HSBC France until 2023) intends to close 72 of its 238 branches by the end of 2026, which will result in the layoffs of nearly a third of its 3,000 employees, according to the job protection plan report cited by AFP. Before them, Société Générale announced in 2020 that it would be shedding nearly 600 branches , taking advantage of its merger with Crédit du Nord. Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale, which brings together regional federations of Crédit Mutuel and CIC, will close its smallest branches so that 85% of the remaining branches have at least seven employees, a spokesperson for the group told Le Figaro .

At the end of 2024, France still had 33,024 bank branches, according to figures from the European Central Bank (ECB), nearly 5,000 fewer than ten years earlier. These massive closures have put unions on alert. "We are willing to acknowledge that some of them may have been surplus to requirements in large cities, but the clean-up has been done. Now we are in the next stage and we are worried, because we sense that the closures will continue," confides Béatrice Lepagnol, general secretary of the CFDT banking and insurance federation.

To justify these decisions, the banks point to the country's exceptional nature compared to its neighbors: in Europe, one in three branches is located in France, according to ECB data. The density of the national network is exceptional, compared to neighboring countries like Germany, which has fallen below the threshold of 20,000 physical banking institutions throughout the country.

The French people's relationship with banking has also evolved over the years. The growth of online banking has led customers to travel less and less to meet with their advisor. According to a study by the French Banking Federation and Ifop , only 36% of customers still visit a branch at least once a quarter. This figure was 41% in 2020.

For Frédéric Guyonnet, president of SNB CFE-CGC, the sector's majority union, this is not a valid argument for closing these establishments. "Certainly, customers are coming to branches less, but when they close, they are unhappy. They want to be able to walk through the doors of their bank if necessary," he analyzes. "There are times in your life when you don't handle transactions remotely: during a separation, the purchase of a primary residence, or even an inheritance file. You need an advisor you know, real human contact." In an office, and not necessarily through a phone call or videoconference.

Anxious not to worry their customers, banks prefer to talk about a process of "branch consolidation" rather than closures. Larger structures are being created in more densely populated municipalities, functioning as hotspots to which residents of neighboring communities are redirected. This approach leads to a "loss of knowledge of territorial specificities," which are particularly useful to a bank advisor, especially in rural areas, deplores Frédéric Guyonnet.

"For merchants, having a bank branch close to their business is essential, especially for cash deposits."

Frédéric Guyonnet, president of SNB CFE-CGC

to franceinfo

So, with each shutter coming down, some of the clientele chooses to turn to the competition. In this case, to the establishments that maintain their physical network in the area. But this risk of loss is well known to companies, according to the union representative: "BNP Paribas has business and investment banks that bring in more revenue than its network. Closing branches and losing part of its clientele does not put it in danger, far from it."

This is a hard pill to swallow for local elected officials. Upset about the recent closure of the only BNP Paribas branch in his town, Laurent Depagne (various left), mayor of Aulnoy-les-Valenciennes (Nord), protests: "It This is a real political issue that has not been anticipated."

"Local elected officials would have been inspired to mobilize more, and not just when their municipality is affected by a closure."

Laurent Depagne, Mayor of Aulnoy-les-Valenciennes

to franceinfo

For the mayor, who had a motion of protest passed at his municipal council meeting against this unilateral decision, the issue must be discussed. He intends to use all his influence to ensure that parliamentarians take up the matter. "Of course, these are private organizations, so they are the ones who decide, but banks have close ties with public authorities. Together, we can consider the consequences of these closures for customers."

The subject is all the more sensitive because when a bank closes its doors, it is accompanied, in the majority of cases, by the decommissioning of an ATM. This poses significant difficulties for communities that find themselves without a cash withdrawal solution. According to the National Committee for Payment Methods, France will have lost more than 1,500 ATMs by 2024. In the banking desert, ATMs are the first mirages.