It isn't your imagination; new bank branches have been popping up on corners faster than the latest fast-food craze.
According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., banks and thrifts added a net 1,204 branches in the 12 months ended June 30. That's more branches than the previous two years combined and the highest rate since the 12 months ended June 1998.
For a while, megabanks couldn't close branches fast enough as mergers led to branch overlap in many markets, including Florida. The antibranch trend hit its stride in the late '90s with predictions that the Internet and telephone banking would make branches all but obsolete.
All of that has changed. Banks are now increasingly convinced they need a combined bricks-and-clicks model to succeed. People may go online to check their balances but they still want the option of standing in line to talk to a banker in person.
Suddenly, it's hip to open bank branches again, especially in fast-growing markets like Florida.
Wachovia, for example, intends to open 40 to 50 branches a year nationally over the next several years, with Florida earmarked to get more offices than any other state. And Bank of America cannot make any more large acquisitions after buying FleetBoston because its share of U.S. deposits has hit the 10 percent limit; so it plans to grow to the next level by building branches.
The newest player in the bay area's banking scene, BB&T, is in a similar mode. The North Carolina bank, which is buying Republic Bank of St. Petersburg, plans to build new branches across Florida even as it searches for other buyout targets, the bank's chief executive said during a visit to St. Petersburg.
