OREANDA-NEWS. February 12, 2013. This year Swedbank will cut its network of branches and ATMs. Over the year a total of six branches will be closed. The number of ATMs will also be cut by six: five in Tallinn and one in Tartu. In March, around 30 machines will provide both withdrawal and cash depositing services following reconfiguration, reported the press-centre of Swedbank.   

According to Ulla Ilisson, Head of the Retail Banking Division, the bank will cut its branch network mainly due to weak demand. “Over the past five years we have worked hard to develop our Internet bank and mobile bank,” she explained. “For customers, this means a convenient and easy way of performing their day-to-day transactions and signing contracts in electronic channels. People's growing desire to perform transactions in electronic channels has directly influenced the number of visits made to our branches. For instance, in some of the branches that will be closed the number of customers has fallen by around 40% over the last five years, and over 10% last year alone. As such, we’ll be bringing the branch network into line with the actual situation. We have no plans for any other changes at this point.”

As of 1 June 2013, the Marienthal and Kawe branches in Tallinn, the Pohjakeskus branch in Rakvere and, as of July 1, the Elva and Marjamaa branches will be closed. The Parnu Teater branch will be closed in March. In Elva and Marjamaa the branches will be replaced by Swedbank’s banking bus and ATMs will be retained in both settlements, with the local bunch note acceptors being reconfigured so as to allow for cash withdrawals. In Parnu the former three branches will be replaced by two larger ones offering full functionality. The employees of the closed branches will be able to continue in other positions in the bank.

“Last year we also closed some branches in smaller towns, replacing them with the banking bus,” said Ilisson. “Those changes didn’t affect our customers much – they remained loyal to us. However, it was pointed out that the lack of cash deposit facilities is a disadvantage. We’ve learned from this, and this year we’ll be reconfiguring nearly 30 former bunch note acceptors (BNA) throughout Estonia so that customers can deposit and withdraw cash using the same machine. Among other places, we’ll be installing such machines in places where the bank branches will be closed.”

The network of automated teller machines (ATM) will be reduced by 25, mainly in Tallinn and Tartu, where so far multiple machines have stood next to each other. “The number of machines will fall by 25, but the actual number of cash withdrawal points will fall by only six: five in Tallinn and one in Tartu,” said Ilisson. “Mostly, the nature of the cash machine will change in these places – in addition to cash withdrawals the machines will also allow cash to be deposited. We’ve learnt from experience and won’t take away any machines if there are no other ATMs nearby.”

According to Ilisson, the turnover of the machines has been monitored and the regional representation of machines and density of the machine population analysed for a long time. “Last year Swedbank’s customers paid nearly 12% more often by card than the year before that,” she said. “Each year Swedbank’s corporate customers are putting several thousand additional card terminals into use in order to offer their customers a more convenient way of paying, so outside larger cities and towns the number of shops where you can pay by card is increasing all the time. This has reduced our customers’ need for cash and their frequency of using ATMs. That’s why we’re making adjustments in the number of machines in places where there are several of them together.”

Following these changes Swedbank will still have the largest branch network in Estonia, with 52 branches, 386 ATMs, 31 payment terminals and, by March, around 30 new reconfigured ATM/BNAs and around 30 BNAs – a total of 416 machines from which cash can be withdrawn and around 60 machines in which cash can be deposited.